The Definition of a Family
by Lil Miss Snarker
Summary: Previously "You'll be in My Heart." AU! Pettigrew has been caught and Sirius is a free man. Dumbledore and Snape have decided to tell Harry the truth. But they also have to tell Hermione the truth about something nobody would have expected. NOT H/Hr.
1. Merely Children

Disclaimer: If I owned any of this I'd be richer than the Queen. If I were richer than the Queen, why the hell would I be bothering with this sight?

**A/N: This takes place at the end of GOF, and in this fic, Hermione was raised by her single mother. I want to make one thing clear, just because they are the two main charachters, this will not be a HHr story. **

The Definition of Family  
Chapter One: Merely Children

Harry was asleep. Voldemort had returned, Cedric Diggory was dead, and the only good thing that had actually come from the awful night is that he had managed to pull Wormtail back to Hogwarts with him and now Sirius was a free man.

Actually this was only good news depending on who you talk to. Severus Snape for one couldn't think of worse news. He hated Black with every bone in his body; both he and James Potter had made his life a living hell in Hogwarts and unlike Potter, Black hadn't even ever showed any remorse. Severus was completely annoyed Black was free; though even he was glad Pettigrew was getting what's coming to him. While he blamed himself for what happened at Godric's Hollow that night, he also blamed the little rat just as much as everyone else did, and he was happy to see someone partly responsible for Lily's death put away.

As he looked reluctantly back at Potter, Black simpering by his side, he felt a surge of pity that he tried desperately to discourage. This was Potter's kid for Heaven's Sakes! _But he's also Lily's_ whispered a quiet voice in the back of Severus' head, and as he looked back at the child his heart ached, Lily's laugh and smile and, most of all, eyes resonating in his mind.

Still he pulled his gaze away from the boy and instead focused on Hermione's sleeping form, curled up in a chair close to Harry's bed next to the Weasley boy. Watching her sleep, seeing the obvious fear still etched on her face, his heart ached even more. If Severus could have one wish it would be to take her in his arms and comfort her, but this could never be reality. As much as he loved his daughter, she could never know the truth, or she would be in even more danger than she was simply being Potter's best friend.

It had all started long ago, back when he was still a Deatheater, he had gotten extremely drunk and slept with some random muggle woman who's name he could not remember. He hardly thought it mattered, casual sex was not the same as carrying on a relationship and he would be in no trouble with the Dark Lord. However, after he had accidentally given his dear Lily and her family up and decided to spy for Dumbledore, the muggle showed up on his doorstep.

She explained that her name was Rose and that she had spent the last year and a half attempting to track him down. She then explained that the infant in her arms was their child. It was the last thing Severus needed right now, but he had burdened this woman and felt the need to support her and her child, as well as protect them as they would be in grave danger if the Dark Lord realized they existed. So he explained magic to her, knowing that their daughter, Hermione, would be a witch, and he kept the two at Spinner's End, away from any danger.

He had never intended to love them, either of them. He had made it clear to Rose that Lily was the only woman he could possibly love despite that she was married with a child, but somehow with all the time he spent with her, his love for Rose grew. Severus still loved Lily, but he and Rose began a brief romantic relationship.

Hermione was a completely different story. The little girl was so kind, and smart, and beautiful, he fell for her against his will almost instantly. He had never been dedicated to anyone so completely with the exception of Lily and his mother. When Rose suggested they give Hermione a middle name, he had chosen Eileen, and this additive only made his love for the child grow.

But when the Dark Lord was defeated and Lily and James died, Severus was not only consumed with grief, he knew the faithful Deatheaters would find out about Rose and Hermione and that wasn't a chance he was willing to take. He sent Rose away, told her to tell Hermione her father was dead and to act as if she were wholly muggleborn when the letter arrived ten years later. He remained in correspondence with Rose, knew of Hermione's life, and even though he'd never seen a picture he knew who she was when she walked in the Great Hall before her name was ever called.

Hermione's intelligence and caring continued to amaze him every day he observed her over the past four years. But she was a Gryffindor, not to mention a friend of Harry Potter's, and supposedly a muggleborn; so there was no way he could treat her well without it seeming suspicious. His only hope was that one day, when all this was over, he could explain all this to her and maybe have some sort of relationship, but with the return of Voldemort that dream grew further and further away.

"Severus," beckoned Dumbledore from behind him. Severus slowly turned around and followed the older man into the hall,

"You need to tell her the truth," said Dumbledore sadly, knowing how hard this would be.

"What?" he asked in an intense whisper, "Albus; now is the least appropriate time to tell her. With the Dark Lord back Harry's mind is bound to be looked into and by extension; _Hermione's_."

Albus let out a grave sigh, "I know, Severus, but we're going to need Harry to learn Oclumency anyway, and I think it's better if we get everything out in the open."

"What do you mean by 'everything'?" He asked suspiciously.

"I want to explain to Harry as well; about the prophecy, the horcruxes, and about you and his mother."

"This is ridiculous; my personal life is no business of Potters!"

"It is when it involves Lily, Severus," said Dumbledore in a calm but severe voice, "We've kept things from both of them long enough, and now they _both_ disserve to know the truth.

And besides that; Rose will need to say at Order Headquarters so that she's safe, so either way Hermione will learn the truth, we might as well explain things to Harry and Sirius as well."

"There is no way in hell I'm explaining anything to Black!" he argued.

"He lost her too, Severus, and he also lost James. You of all people should understand the pain of losing your best friend, not to mention one's concern for their child."

Severus felt his cheeks turn red, partly in anger and partly in embarrassment, "Fine."

"We'll tell them tomorrow. Oh, and don't be surprised if the entire Order knows the day after, word travels fast among people who have actual social skills," said Dumbledore, a bit of the twinkle returning to his eye.


	2. Revelations

Disclaimer: Jo is a God, I am but her lowly servant. I will go bask in my...lowlyness now.

The Definition of Family  
Chapter Two: Revelations

Severus breathed heavily as he tried to calm himself, but his nerves were getting the better of him, he was sitting in Albus's office waiting for Potter, Black, and Hermione to come into the room and frankly he was terrified. He had no idea what do say to Hermione and even less of an idea what to say to Harry. He'd asked the Headmaster countless times to postpone the meeting, but Albus continuously said no.

Suddenly, there was a jerking movement, and the door opened to reveal the three aforementioned parties. Severus breifly noted how beautiful his daughter looked before Albus had the three be seated.

"I've called the three of you here today because there are things which you diserve to know but that have, up untill this point, been kept from you," Albus explained to the confused and nervous three, "With Voldemort's return, however, I can no longer in good consicence keep these secrets, and Severus, however begrudgingly, can't either," he said, throwing a small smile to Severus.

"That being said, I would like to discuss things with Harry and Sirius for a while, as I'm sure Severus has no real disire to have a lengthy talk with either of you, and Harry will explain things to Miss Granger in his own time. Miss Granger, there is a small room behind the book shelf by my desk where Professor Snape will be taking you to talk things over."

Thankful for Albus's dessision, he lead Hermione into the small study and seated her in a chair.

After a few moments of silence, Hermione decided to speak, "What's all this about, Professor?"

Severus let out a deep sigh and began to speak, "Hermione...there are alot of things I've done in my time that I haven't been proud of, but despite what you would think, leaving you was never one of them," Hermione looked extremely confused, but he needed to get all he had gone over in his head before dealing with questions,

"What I did, I did to protect you and your mother, do you understand? To the Dark Lord and his followers I am a traitor, and if they ever discovered this you would be in grave danger if they knew about you two."

Hermione had always been quick to catch on, so it didn't take her long to realize what Severus was saying, after a quick gasp of realization she was silent for what seemed like an eternity, but it was probably not that long at all, "She told me you were dead," she finally said quietly, only the slightest bit of emotion in her voice.

"Yes well; I told her to."

"You're a bastard," she rasped out, her voice sounding as though she might cry, "You should be ashamed of this too."

Severus let out a deep breath and willed himself not to let tears fall, much as his daughter was doing, "You're probably right."

The two sat in utter silence, neither one saying a word, neither one looking at the other, and neither crying (though they both wanted to).

"This doesn't make you my father, you know," she finally said, raising her head and looking him square in the eye, "You're just a sperm doner."

"Fair enough," Severus said. Though the words hurt, they weren't entirely untrue, he hadn't raised Hermione, that had been Rose and Rose alone, "But despite what you think; I do care about you...and your mother."

Hermione snorted in relative disbelief, but held her togue.

"You and your mother will be staying at Black's this summer...we all will be, even Potter after a few weeks with Petunia," he said, not thinking now was the time to explain how he knew the wretched woman's name, "You'll be safe there. She'll be meeting us here and we'll floo, rather than boarding the train."

Hermione nodded somewhat, "Can I go now?"

Before he even got a chance to answer, Albus knocked on the door, "Severus; Harry and Sirius already left, you can talk to the two of them some other time if you feel up to it. If you and Hermione are done, I think it'd be best for her to return to her dorm."

Hermione ran past the both of them and didn't start running untill she reached the Gryffindor common room, not seeing Harry anywhere, she headed to her Dormitory and threw herself on her bed, crying ever so slightly.

* * *

Albus sighed raggedly before he began taking small strands of his memory and emptying them into the stone basin in front of himself that Harry had fallen into what seemed like an eternity ago. Severus had chosen to stare blankly out the window for about twenty minutes before actually speaking to the headmaster; "How did Potter and Black take the news?"

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose before replying, "Sirius had been absolutly furious that I'd kept this from Harry and more himself, but once he calmed a little he apologised, I think he began to understand why it was best to keep these things from Harry."

"And the boy?"

"He seemed completely indifferent at first...I'm not sure if it was because he was already so jaded from all that's happend before hand or if he's just become really good at hiding his emotions," he answered before taking another ragged sigh, "However, I'm told by Poppy that Sirius had to rush him to the Hospital Wing shortly after they left my office. It seems he had a panic attack."

"Albus, there was no avoiding a bad reaction from either secret being revealed, but you were right, and I was wrong. They diserved to know the truth, and now that they do, they'll be better for it. More protected."

"I hope your right, Severus," said Albus, a small amount a guilt evident in his voice, he had yet to even tell Severus about Harry also being horcrux, but that was one secret no one but him should know 'till the very end, much as it pained him to keep it, "I hope your right."


	3. Not Really Okay

Disclaimer: Idon'townHarryPotterIdon'townHarryPotter. My therapist makes me repeat this a hundered times a day. Idon'townHarryPotter...

The Definition of Family  
Chapter Three: Not Really Okay

Harry stared absently at the black lake as he leaned against the beach tree, feeling a great aching in his heart, in his body, even his mind. This was from just about everything; the truths he had learned, being forced to return to the Dursley's, Voldemort's return, Cedric's death. Everything was happening so fast and he felt as though he was losing his mind.

Within the day after what happend Dumbledore's office, everyone involved in the Order new what was going on in both accounts, just as had been predicted. Harry was chuckled slightly at the look on Ron's face when he found out Hermione was Snape's daughter. But for once Ron didn't manage to do _too_ much damage, he simply choked out; "I'm sorry," and left it at that. The reaction to Harry's news had been much worse. For instance; Ron had told Harry Ginny had cried once he left the room, something he really wished he hadn't be told.

Harry had been so wrapped in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sitting next to him, also staring at the lake. "Oh...hey guys."

The three smiled, realizing that he was just now noticing their presence. "Are you okay?" asked Hermione, not looking much better than he did.

"No, not really," he said before a chorus of meloncholly laugher broke out among the four. However, once the laughing supsided, the silence was uncomfortable and seemingly impenatrable.

"So Neville's staying with us at Sirius' house this summer," said Ron, finally, trying to break the quiet.

"Really?" asked Harry, only half paying attention to what Ron was saying.

"Yeah, it seems his Gram joined the Order, so he'll be there with us...along with Loony," said Ron, looking all but excited.

"Ron!" both girls chastised before smacking him upside the head.

"Just because she's a little odd is no reason to be mean!" said Hermione as she rolled her eyes and ignoring Ron's scandalized 'Ow'.

"Loony?" asked Harry, confused.

"She's our neighbor," explained Ginny; "Luna Lovegood. She's a Ravenclaw in my year. She's very bright...but rather strange. The _rude_ kids call her 'Loony'." She shot a glare at Ron before pointing to a girl across the feild.

Harry surveyed her. She had long, blonde hair and a very dreamy look on her face. Harry admitted she seemed a bit off, but not in a particularly bad way. He turned to Ron with a raised eyebrow before smacking his head as well.

"Oh please, the girl is off her rocker!" exclaimed Ron, "As is her nutbag father!"

"Luna's dad runs _The Quibbler_: it's a bit of an odd magazine, but there's certainly nothing wrong with it!" Hermione told Harry while smacking Ron once again, this time on his arm.

"Anyway," said Ginny, being the one to, this time, ignore Ron's indignafied exclaimation of pain, "Her dad's also joined the Order, so she'll be staying there as well. And we're _all_ going to be very nice to her, aren't we Ronald?"

"Yeah sure...whatever."

Harry rolled his eyes at Ron being, well; Ron. But the ice was broken and the three talked for a long time about Luna and Neville and Luna's crazy father who was apparently named Xenophillus. Harry almost felt normal again, but in the back of his mind there was a little voice that reminded him of everything that was still going on.

* * *

Sirius was restless. Harry hadn't been at the Dursley's more than a week, but he still felt as if something were profoundly wrong. He wanted his Godson here, so that they could talk about what he was going through. Not off with those people who didn't even care about Harry, didn't even care about Lily.

He was up pacing in the living room for the third night in a row when Remus walked up to him, looking tired and slightly annoyed; "Sirius, come to bed."

"In a minute," he mumbled as he continued to walk back and fourth down the legth of the room.

"Padfoot! Harry is fine! Maybe a little shooken up with everything that's been going on, but fine!"

"You really think so?"

"Yes! And he'll be here before you know it, so will you _please_ come to bed?" Remus begged, wrapping an arm around Sirius' waist.

"I just want him here now, you know?"

"I know," said Remus with a sigh, "But you're just going to have to go against your nature and be patient." The two grinned before sharing a small, lovely kiss.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right," said Sirius as they headed back upstairs, "I'm sure he's okay."

* * *

Harry was miserable. Not only was he plaged with nightmares about both Cedric's and his own demise. But he was costantly haunted by what he new was to come, not to mention his uncle was currently drunk and shouting and it was only a matter of time before he made his way to Harry's room. Harry wished for Sirius, Remus, hell even Snape to be there, but instead he just waited for Vernon to reach his room.

The moment Uncle Vernon came through the door Harry was thrown the floor and beaten mercilessly, not knowing what else to do, Harry just wished for him to stop. A secound later Vernon Dursley dropped to the floor and was abnormally still.

Harry pushed himself far away from the body and cowered at the far end of his room.


	4. Family

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to that beautiful woman we call Jo...I'm just Madeline and therefore not Jo, and therefore not the owner...I like to ramble...

The Definition of Family  
Chapter Four: Family

Sirius felt like he could hear Harry calling in his mind and he couldn't ignore it anymore. Making sure Remus was out cold, he got dressed and tore down the stairs, only to find Severus Snape heading out the door. "You felt it too?" Severus asked. There was no need to answer. The two left the house and apparated to the Number Four, Privit Drive.

As the two slowly walked into the house, Severus looked around disgustedly; "Dear Lord, this place _radiates_ Petunia..."

Sirius let out a small chuckle, he had never met Lily's sister, but he'd heard enough horror stories to imagine the woman. The laughter, however, died quickly. The whole house gave off a rather ominous feeling and at this point Sirius just wanted his Godson out of there.

The headed up the stairs and quietly checked the rooms. It was Severus who found Harry's and when Sirius entered the room he didn't even register the dead man on the floor, all he saw the rather badly injured Harry. Not knowing what else to do, he gingerly took the barely conscious form of his Godson in his arms and turned to Severus. It was then and only then he saw Vernon Dursley.

"Merlin!" exclaimed Sirius, his eyes widening, "Is he-?"

"He's dead," Severus answered, his voice sounding as flat and emotionless as it usually did. If Sirius hadn't known better he would've thought he'd imagined the mans almost human-like behavior around him earlier,

"Potter needs to see Poppy. I suggest we get him back to Headquaters and contact her from there."

"I don't think Apparating with Harry right now would be wise," said Sirius, reluctant to put Harry through more pain.

"Well he's more likely to be further injures using a portkey," argued Severus, "So get over it." Sirius was suprised at the way Snape had said this, almost as if he were joking...but he would deal with Snivillus' weird personality changes later.

Concentrating hard, he apperated Harry to the doorstep of Number Twelve, Snape not far behind.

* * *

Harry opened his eyes, he could barely see a thing, but he figured that probably had something to do with the fact that he wasn't wearing his glasses. However, the fuzzy outlines he could make out looked nothing like anywhere he'd ever been, so he was very confused, and a little frightened. "Where am I?"

"You're at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place in London England. It's Tuesday, July tenth, and it's ten in the morning...although that's probably more information than you wanted."

The voice was familar, and despite how much he'd resented it lately, he was very happy to hear it, "Professer?"

"Hello Harry," said the Albus Dumbledore's kindly voice as he handed Harry his glasses. Putting them on, Harry took in his surroundings more clearly. The room was plastered with photographs both wizard and muggle, as well as Gryffindor paraphenalia. It was more than clear this room belonged to Sirius in his youth.

"How did I get here?" Harry asked after a moment, still slightly disoriented.

"Sirius and Severus brought you here."

"Sirius and Snape worked together? I must have been in pretty bad shape..." he said jokingly, realizing a moment later how true his statement must've been by the look on Dumbledore's face.

"Harry, why didn't you say anything about your uncle?" he asked, he eyes looking sad and tired and missing much of their sparkle.

Harry sighed and became oddly interested on the quilt he was under, "I guess I just thought it wasn't worth mentioning, and then it was like 'how pathetic of a chosen one am I if I can't handle my muggle uncle?'"

"Harry, your uncle was awful, and I don't believe there was anything you could have done, except maybe tell someone."

"Is he dead?" Harry asked, realizing Dumbledore had said 'was'.

"Yes."

"Did I kill him?"

Albus looked at him confused, "Harry; you're uncle had a heart attack. There was no magic involved, just clogged arteries, is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Very good," he said, a little bit of twinkle returning to his eye, "I'd love to stay with you Harry, but I really do need to be getting downstairs to the meeting. You do understand?"

Harry nodded and watched the old man leave, still trying to comprehend that one of his demons was gone...but many more were still left to be battled, when a woman walked into the room.

She was very pretty, she had hazle eyes and curly brown hair along with a rather thin frame. She couldn't have been more than thirty-four or thirty-five and for some reason Harry found her oddly familiar. She carried a tray with some soup to the bed and put in front of the table.

"Molly made that for you," she said with small grin, "She figured you'd want something warm when you woke up. Anyone who found that odd because it's July didn't say anything, so she made it."

Harry nodded slowly waiting for the woman to identify herself, something seemed to click in her mind and she grinned, "Sorry; I'm Rose Granger, Hermione's mother."

Realization dawned on Harry as he noticed how much Ms. Granger looked like her daughter, or they other way around, he guessed. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Granger."

"Oh, Honey, call me Rose, please," she said with a smile.

"Rose."

"Very Good! Anyway, all the adults are in the meeting with the exception of yours truly due to my 'less than magical nature'," she explained as she pushed the spoon in Harry's hand, "But all the kids are in the room Hermione, Ginny, and that rather odd Lovegood girl are sharing.

"You should be able to go spend time with them once you finish that, just be careful of your ribs." And with that, she left, a rather large smile still on her face, leaving Harry baffled as to how she ended up in a relationship with Severus Snape. Then again, his own mother had been friends with the man, so perhaps he had just been a very different person before the events at Godric's Hollow.

Finishing his soup, Harry pushed the trey away and gingerly got out of the bed, his ribs ached, but he walked through the pain and headed down the corridoor towards the room from which he heared Ginny's destinctive laughter. He breifly wondered when he began recognizing Ginny's laughter, but was cut short by someone knocking the wind out of him in a tight hug.

He pulled away and was suprised to find it was Ron. The red headed boy looked very serious for a moment and simply said, "Never do that to any of us again...you prat."

The entire group, that had been rather silent up untill then, suddenly burst out laughing. Harry looked around the room and saw Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna Lovegood, and the twins. Grinning broadly, Harry seated himself in a chair near one of the beds in the room, "So how's everyone's summer been?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and threw a peice of candy from the big pile the group had been sharing at him, "You tell us you're going to have to kill Voldemort or be killed at the end of schoo, then you show up here, beaten up by your own _uncle_, scare us all half to death, and that's _all_ you have to say?" she asked, rather annoyed.

Harry took a pause as if he were poundering this, "Yeah...pretty much." This time he ducked the peice of candy.

"Harry!"

"Hermione, I promise we'll all have time for long emotional conversations, but I'd kinda prefer something a little lighter right now! Atleast tell me what you know as far as the Order goes."

She sighed and rolled her eyes once again, but it was Ron who answered, "Well, we don't know much of anything. They're very secretive about this stuff."

"Well what do you know?"

"They want the prophecy," said Ginny, rather more bluntly than anyone else seemed to like, "What? He's going to find out eventually!"

"What do you mean 'they want the prophecy'?" asked Harry, suddenly feeling slightly sick.

"Well, Voldemort only ever knew like half of it," explained Ginny, ignoring everyone, besides her's and Harry's, cringing, "Oh, come on, it's a bloody name!

"Anyway, he wants the other half."

"Oh, spectacular," said Harry, feeling even more sick.

"They're guarding it, Mate," said Ron, sensing Harry's discomfort, "It'll be okay."

"Right..." said Harry quietly, "So, we know anything else?"

"That's pretty much it," said Fred, looking a little agravated.

"They won't even tell me and Fred anything, and we're of age," said George with an equally dark look.

"If it were up to me you'd all be told everything, but Molly would absolutely _murder _me," said a humurful voice coming from the door. Harry whipped around to and saw his Godfather.

"Sirius!"

"Hey you!" Sirius greeted him, smiling brightly before they hugged, "Do you guys mind if I borrow him for a minute?" Everyone in the room gave him their blessing, and the two walked down the hall.

"I really wish you'd told me about your uncle, Harry," said Sirius, sounding rather upset.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, ducking his head and staring at the ground.

"It's okay. Some good did come from the bad, so atleast there's that."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, confused.

"No one's told you?" Harry shook his head, "I've been given right of Gaurdianshp back."

"Wait, you mean-"

"We're going to be a real family now."


	5. Pink Haired Girl

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Joanne Karen Rowling and her alone. If I owned Harry Potter, my odd obsession with it wouldn't scare my friends as much.

The Definition of Family  
Chapter Five: Pink Haired Girl

"A family.." the word sounded strange on Harry's lips, foreign, he turned to Sirius, grinning slightly, "I think I'd like that."

Sirius smiled sadly before pulling his godson into a hug. "You, and me, and Remus-"

"Are you two a couple?" asked Harry, with a small amount of laughter playing on his face. It only grew when Sirius pulled away, looking positively taken off guard, "No offence, but you guys are really bad at the stealth thing if you were trying to hide it. The way you look at eachtoher...not to mention that hug in the shrieking shack that night: that was not an 'I love you like a brother hug'."

Sirius chuckled, "Well, twelve years apart, and we were never very good at containing ourselves...is that okay with you?"

"It's fine," replied Harry smiling, "It's _fine_."

Sirius now feeling as though a huge wait had been lifted off his shoulders, began to lead Harry downstairs, "You know, I'm lucky to have such a perceptive godson, you just saved me about an hour of explanation."

"I still wouldn't mind knowing how you guys got together," said Harry, wanting to know any bit of information on the past which he should have been so very well informed of by now.

"And I will tell you, but that story is for another time, and will hopefully be told with Remus in tow. First, you need to meet the fourth memeber of the odd little family we've just become."

"Who?" As Harry and Sirius reached the bottom of the stairs a girl who was sitting on the couch with Bill and Charlie whipped around, sporting a huge grin.

"You're awake!" she squealed before pulling Harry into a tight, somewhat painful hug. The girl had to be around Bill's age, probably a tad younger. She had bright pink hair and a heart shaped face, but her eyes were the same intense dark as Sirius', though less haunted by years of prison.

"Harry, this is Nymphadora-"

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" exclaimed the girl, her hair breifly turning a dark violet. Harry's eyes widened for a moment, but after he got over the anitial shock he realized how stupid it was to be surprised by anything that happened in his life.

"The names Tonks," the girl said, as her hair turned back to pink and the warm smile she'd been sporting returned.

"Dora," said Sirius, almost as if the event had not taken place, "Is my second cousin, she prefers to go by her surname."

"Well if your mother named you _Nymphadora,_ wouldn't you? James and Lily were good parents, the gave you a nice, normal name. Meanwhile, we get stuck with Nymphadora and Sirius: _proof_ that our family is sick and twisted."

"Come on, Dora, for our family that's just the tip of the iceberg."

"I suppose your right, anyway. It's good to have you up and about Harry," she said, brightly,"But I got to go save Bill from being bored to death with tales of dragon breading habits! Wotcher Harry!" And with that, Tonks bounced off, stopping only breifly to look at herself in the mirror and change her hair color to fire engine red, she then went back to the couch.

Sirius shook his head smiling at his cousin, before looking to Harry, who was staring at Tonk's hair, "She's a Metamorphamagus," he explained, "She can change shape at will. It's a bit like being a parseltounge or a seer, some witches and wizards are just born with it. Helped her on her Auror's exams for disguises alot, and she needed the extra points. Did awful on stealth, she's damn clumsy."

"She's an Auror?"

"Unfortunantly, yes."

"You don't like her being an Auror?" asked Harry.

"It's not that I'm not proud...I'm just always worried, especially now with all that's going on. I'm as pertective as her as I am of you. Tonks came to live with me when she was just eight after all."

"Why?"

Sirius took a deep breath, as he and Harry walked through the halls, and stared off as if lost in another world, and then he began to tell the tale:

"We had all had a late night of Auror training. Well, the four of us Marauders anway. Lil's had been at Healing school all day. That's what your mother wanted to be after all, a healer. She never got around to it, but she would've been great. She had a healing touch to begin with.

Anyway, as Remus and I came home to the flat we found Minerva sitting there, looking increadibly upset. She had always loved Meda; she was a great student. Andromeda was my favorite cousin, the only one who didn't treat me like garbage for being a 'blood traitor' because, well, she was too. She married a muggleborn named Ted Tonks and had a beautiful little girl, who I babysat constantly.

But being a bloodtraitor catches up with you when your psycopathic older sister is nearly Voldemort's right hand. Meda and Ted were both killed earlier that night. Dora probably would've been too, except that Meda had hidden her in a closet with a cloaking spell on it.

I guess in way what happened to Dora and what happened to you were very similar, except that she was older, so her memories of the events are much more clear, unfortunantly.

I tried very hard to be a good guardian for Dora. But, bottom line is: no one expects their life to change, you know that better than anyone. I was eighteen and scared, but still, I tried...I think I did a good job too, or at least, I hope."

"So what happend after you went to jail?" asked Harry, now seeing part of himself in Tonks.

"She went to stay with her muggle grandparents. They were nice people, but like most muggles raising a magical chidl they didn't quite get it, even after having gone through it once before with Ted. They both died years ago."

"Anyway, when Dora and I finally got to see eachother last year it was a big reunion, tears, hugs, the whole nine yards, it was actually a little embarressing."

"I don't think that's embarrassing," Harry said, assuringly.

"You don't?"

"No...I think it's wonderful."


	6. Preparation

Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Harry Potter...because if I did, I would keep him locked up in my basement for my own personal pleasure.

The Definition of Family  
Chapter Six: Preparation

A few weeks had passed and while Harry had been getting to know his new family, Hermione had been avoiding any contact with hers. She'd barely even acknowleged the change and everyone was starting to get worried, especially Rose who, as Harry had learned from Hermione, was usually extremely adverse to worrying. Hermione, at the moment was sitting in the room she shared with Ginny and Luna studying furiously.

As Ginny walked into the room, surveying the scattered books and papers and the intent look on Hermione's face she sighed, causing a slight reaction from Hermione, but it was not enough to make her look up from the book. "You know, this is going overboard. Even for you," Ginny finally said as she plopped on the floor next to her friend.

"What is?"

"This!" Ginny gestured to the literature strewn across the floor, "School doesn't start 'till Monday, and I _know_ you've already finished your summer reading."

"I have to be prepared," Hermione stated simply, before turning back to what Ginny now realized was her Transfiguration book.

"For_ what_?"

"OWLS."

"...Hermione, your OWLS are at the end of the year..."

"Exactly-"

"SCHOOL HASN'T STARTED YET!" exclaimed Ginny, standing up looking at Hermione as if she were insane, which, to be fair, wasn't altogether unfounded.

"So?"

"So stop being creepy!"

"Ginny, OWLS are an extremely part of a wizard or witch's accademic career!" Hermione argued, giving Ginny about the same look the redhead was giving her, "They can make or break you!"

"So can death! You'd think if you were going to obsess over something it would be our impending doom," said Ginny, a tone of fear burried under the thick sarcasm.

"Well I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because if I do that I have to think about everything that goes along with it; the possibility of loosing Harry, the war-"

"Your father," finished Ginny, smiling sadly at her friend.

"Yes, _that_ too...and he's _not _my father."

"Okay, than what shall we call him?" asked Ginny with a smirk, crossing her legs into a half-lotus and casually blowing a strand of hair from her face.

"We could call him _Snape_, like always," answered Hermione without looking up from her book.

"I think you could atleast grant the man a Severus, he half the reason you exist."

Hermione looked up from the book, Ginny's breif moment of actually lucidity was forcing her to actually acknowledge the situation at hand, "True; but whatever parental claim he had he gave up when he left."

"Honey, he did it to protect you."

"Since when do any of you people defend Snape? This is rediculous; you _hate _this man."

Ginny stared at Hermione poingnantly, "There was a time none of us were too found of Sirius either, things change." Hermione simply rolled her eyes and so Ginny got up and began to walk out of the room "And for the record; a few months ago the person in our group that was usually defending him was you."

Hermione let out a small agravated sigh before turning back to her papers, tapping her quill rappidly on her book.

* * *

"So...you gonna go after Cho when school starts?"

"Go after her? You make her sound like a golden snitch," said Harry layed out on his bed, casually flipping through _Quidditch Through the Ages_ while Ron, on the makeshift bed stuffed into Harry's room, was trying to solve a puzzle in _The Quibbler_.

"Well, she is sorta a prize right? I mean: you were fighting for her all last year, Mate," he respoded, not looking up from the magazine.

"Yeah: with Cedric. Who won," said Harry, the saddness that etched into his voice whenever Cedric was mentioned coming back as much as he tried to keep it at bay, "With everything that happened it just doesn't right."

"Well sure, but Diggory isn't exactly coming back, now is he?"

"Ron!" exclaimed Harry, throughing a dirty glare at his friend before looking back to the book.

"Hey! It may not be the nicest of things to say, but it's true. Diggory isn't coming back. Therefore: Cho is yours for the taking."

Harry once more looked up from the book, giving Ron a look that clearly stated 'You're insensitive _and_ insane'. Ron, however, ever the absorbed in a magazine he claimed to despise, didn't notice the less than friendly looks he was recieving. Harry walked over to his friend, grabbed the magazine out of his hands, and set it on the bed.

"And how exactly would that go?" he asked, "'Hey Cho, sorry about your dead boyfriend; wanna snog?'"

Ron looked Harry right in the eye and deadpanned; "Well you might want to mention your famous: girls seem to be in to that." In spite of himself, Harry began to laugh hysterically, and soon Ron joined him. Eventually both ended up on Ron's bed, shaking with fits of laughter.

"But seriously Mate; what happend with Cedric was rough, no doubt, but Cho _does_ like you. Might as well give it a shot."

"I just don't know if I'm ready," Harry answered truthfully, his laughter subsiding.

"Well, you got to get a girlfriend soon: you stay single much longer and you'll just be getting Ginny's hopes up." This last comment was very serious, there was not hint of laughter in Ron's voice. There was actually a bit of an edge, as if Harry had lead Ginny on somehow, which was rediculous because he had never done anything to make Ginny think her feelings were recipricated.

"Yeah well; let's worry about saving the world and then concern ourselves with girls," said Harry, trying to break the tension.

It worked. "But girls are more fun than Death Eaters," responded Ron with a fake pout before they both began to laugh again.

"What about female Death Eaters?"

"No way. Bellatrix Lestrange scares the shit out of me, Mate."


	7. The Road From Home to Home

Disclaimer: Dear God people, I don't own Harry Potter.

The Definition of Family  
Chapter Seven: The Road From Home to Home

The stood at train as they loaded their things onto various luggage carts. People milling around were casting weird glances at Sirius who, despite being exonerated, was still a notorious criminal. There are also the occasional odd looks at Harry. The Ministry had only with reluctance accepted the Voldemort was back, and there was still some question as to whether Harry was telling the truth.

Sirius put a hand on either of Harry's shoulders, "You know that if there's anything you need you can write me."

"Padfoot-" called Remus from behind them.

"I'll look in on you from time to time, and Kingley'll be given me a full report and often," he said, gesturing to the smiling man who had been named the latest in the long line of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers.

"Sirius, we need to leave."

"You know that if at any time you want to come home, that's okay-"

"SIRIUS!" shouted Remus, causing his lover to finally turn around, "Time to cut the umbilical cord. The Train's about to leave."

Sirius rolled his eyes at the comment before turning back to Harry and kissing him briefly on the forehead, "Right them; good term."

"Wotcher Harry!" yelled Tonks as she pulled her reluctant cousin off the platform.

"Have a good term, Harry," said Remus as he followed two, looking as if he would like nothing better than to have his own private flat very far away from London.

Molly gave every huge hugs and reminded to twins to try not to do anything too wretched before she and Arthur too left the platform.

Rose was the last parent standing looking Hermione over carefully, "Have a good term, Sweetheart," she said before trying to pull her daughter into a hug which Hermione avoided before boarding the train. Leaving her mother looking absolutely crushed.

"She'll come 'round," said Ginny as she too went to board the train, "I hope," she added, under her breath. Both boys gave the woman encouraging smiles before getting on. And as the train took off, Rose still stood there, stunned.

* * *

Smoke billowed from the Hogwarts Express as the train scaled over various mountains and valleys that the track took it on. Harry sat, knees bended under himself, staring absent mindedly out the window. Realizing the scenery was having no grand calming effect he gave up and surveyed his surroundings. Hermione had been deeply involved in a book which had now slipped from her hands to the floor as she lay slumped in her seat, asleep. Luna was doing some type of puzzle in her father's magazine which Neville attempted to help with rather unsuccessfully. Ron had strayed from the cabin and was flirting Lavender Brown which heavily disturbed all of them to some degree. But it was Ginny that for some reason caught his attention.

She was sitting on the bench opposite Harry, her knees tucked into a fetal position so that she was resting her chin on them. Just as Harry had been moments before, she was staring blanking out the window as the passing landscape as if it were going to bring some great comfort. She eventually must have come to the same conclusion as Harry, because she turned her head away and found herself staring right into Harry's eyes. "Hi," she whispered, trying not to wake Hermione or disturb Luna and Neville.

Harry thought briefly about his discussion with Ron. Ginny's feelings weren't that strong, were they? Since the Chamber of Secrets incident she had stopped pursuing them seriously and slowly had started to address Harry as a person rather than an idol. They hadn't exactly become friends but Harry thought they'd developed somewhat of a nice platonic relationship. Surely talking to her wouldn't give her any wrong ideas: "Hey," he answered back with a grin.

The redhead immediately returned the smile and then flashed a look at her brother and Lavender in in the corridor, then her eyes moved Hermione. "There is _no way_ this can end well," said Ginny with a grimace as her eyes traveled back to the flirting pair.

Harry choked back a laugh, "No, I don't suppose so..."

Ginny got up and moved to the seat next to Harry, "I woudn't be giggling if I were you," she said in a mask of seriousness, "They'll want us both to pick sides when the battle begins."

"I survived Viktor Krum," replied Harry, "Lavender Brown does _not _scare me." The two laughed loud enough to make Neville and Ginny briefly look up, causing them to stifle to the giggling but it was still there.

Ginny smiled somewhat sadly now and somewhat more quietly she addressed Harry, "How are you?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "I really wish everyone would stop asking that question. Obviously I'm far from fine but if there were any thing terrifying you didn't already know I _would_ tell you."

Ginny stayed silent for a moment before building up the stony sarcasm that was her usual nature around those other than Harry who usually turned her sweeter, "Well perhaps I just figured the 'chosen one' would have his head far enough out of his arse that he'd be able to gather emotional strength from those close."

Harry ducked his head with mild shame, "I'm sorry," he whispered, it was barely audible, but Ginny heard it.

"Closing yourself off from other people will end badly in this situation Green Eyes, trust me on that at least, I know." So thought provoking was the comment that Harry didn't even bother to reprimand the girl's somewhat unnerving nickname.

He was about to respond when he saw a flash of black hair go past the window that looked very much like an emotionally distressed Cho Chang. He turned to Ginny not sure what to say. But he didn't have to say anything the redhead just let out a melancholy sigh and made a gesture as if to say 'go ahead'.

Harry ran right past Ron and Lavender, hearing a cut off "Where are you-" from Ron as he followed the weeping girl down the corridor. Cho sat crouched on the floor at the back of the train with her back against the wall, looking up that the slightly shaking ceiling. The girl looked utterly destroyed, as if the world was slowly falling apart around her (which, to some degree, it was).

"Are you okay?" asked Harry, walking up to her. Realizing someone was there, Cho suddenly got very self conscience. She began to wipe her tears away and smooth down her hair, even going so far as to look in a compact mirror she pulled from her purse.

"I look like a drowned rat," she said as if she were stating fact, all the emotion suddenly drained from her voice. Despite all Harry new about girls, mostly taught to him by Hermione, he began to laugh. Cho glared for a moment, "It's not _that_ funny," she argued, but after watching Harry for moment she began to laugh as well, "Okay; yes, yes it is."

"I sorry," said Harry between laughs as he crouched down next to the girl and wipe a few stray tears she had missed off of her cheeks. "Really; I am."

"It's okay," said Cho, stretching out her hand for Harry to pull her up, "I'm being ridiculous, really. I'm hysterically crying over a boy I went on two dates with after all."

Harry sighed, "Well I've done my share of crying over him too, but when I count the words which passed between us it doesn't add up to much. He was a nice guy I sort of new, I wouldn't exactly say we were friends."

"And I wouldn't exactly call us sweethearts, but-"

"But," Harry agreed as if that were that and, putting an arm around Cho in a that he hoped did not seem to flirtatious, he lead the girl back to her own cabin. There a curly haired girl waited for her, looking less than thrilled at her friend's choice of company.

"Thank you, Harry, for being there," she said with a smile, going so far as to kiss him lightly on the cheek. This action caused Harry to walk back to his own cabin in a daze, her hand pressed firmly to the place she had planted her lips as if he were trapping the kiss there.

When he got back to the cabin Lavender Brown was gone and Ron was once again in his seat, looking immensely happy. Hermione was awake and looked severely less merry, casting occasional glares at Ron which were completely lost on him. Luna was now reading the _Quibbler_ alone and Neville was now the one asleep. Ginny was no where to be found.

When he asked where she was, Hermione took a break from shooting daggers at Ron with her eyes and looked at her other best friend, "She walked off a while ago, she was gone when I woke up."

"She said she went to the bathroom," said Luna in her usual dreamy tone, "However, she's been gone an awful long time..."

Harry peered down the other end of the hall only to find Ginny deep in conversion with a brown haired boy Harry didn't think he'd ever seen before, she was giggling in a somewhat girlish and un-Ginny-like manner. Harry shrugged it off and returned to the cabin, watching Hermione staring at Ron as if trying to set him on fire with her mind.


	8. The Road Part 2

Disclaimer: No I don't own Harry Potter, stop asking, I can't come up with anymore creative disclaimers.

The Definition of Family  
Chapter 8: The Road Part 2

Harry woke up from a deep and somewhat troubled sleep. Ginny was back in the cabin and Luna and Neville were _still_ trying to complete their puzzle. Ron and Hermione, however, were gone. "Prefects meeting," said Ginny as if reading his mind.

Harry sighed. Dumbledore had explained why he hadn't made Harry a prefect; stress on Harry, but it still stung that his friends were in this place of standing that he wasn't. "If you're jealous I guess I can understand," piped in Luna at the look on Harry's face, saying her first words to him since they boarded the train, "But I do not think it's right.

Hermione is the natural choice for a position of this nature and I've got a feeling if it were just her you wouldn't be so upset. Ronald always seems to be in your shadow, he shouldn't have to feel guilty about stepping out."

Harry smiled the girl as she turned back to the puzzle as if it'd never happened. "We should probably change," said Ginny, also smiling, "We'll go in the next cabin over. Come on, Lu."

"So...which one?"asked Neville with a sly smirk after the girls left as he and Harry changed.

"Which what?"

"_Ginny_ or _Cho_?" he asked, looking at Harry pointedly, "_Which one_?"

"Cho!" Harry exclaimed, frightened by the implication of him and Ginny together, for some reason.

"Alright..." said Neville in a mock-serious tone.

"Cho!"

"Okay!"

"Neville, I mean it; Cho!" Harry exclaimed again, wondering who he was trying to convince.

As the train lurched to a stop, the two exited the cabin, Luna and Ginny not far behind. Ron and Hermione came up to them, robes on, and badges shining and Hermione still shooting Ron the occasional glare as the all walked off the train. "God...I wasn't aware the company you kept could get worse, Potter..." sneered Draco Malfoy as he and his cronies walked by the group, "I mean: the weasels, the mudblood, and Longbottom were bad enough, but Loony Lovegood?"

"Fuck off, Malfoy!" said Hermione, surprising everyone.

"You kiss your muggle mother with that mouth, Granger?"

"She said fuck off," rang out a voice with a celtic twang to it, "I suggest you listen, you bleach blond poof." Seamus and Dean rounded the corner and went to board a carriage, but not before Seamus knocked Draco to the ground with his shoulder as he passed. For some reason the Slytherins decided it wasn't worth it and took off to there own carriage. Seamus flashed them a smile while Dean rolled his eyes at his best friend's antics.

As he went to the carriage Harry was shocked to see specter-like black horses attacked to it. Long thin wings came out of the horses' back and they looked somewhat reptilian, despite lacking scales; "Harry, what are you staring at?" asked Hermione as she got on board.

"Those things."

"What things?"

"Threastrals," said Luna Lovegood, again speaking out of nowhere, actually causing Dean to jump who hadn't realized she was sitting next to them.

"Blimey," said Neville, "Is that what they are? I always wondered..."

"What's a threastral?" Harry asked, confused, as he got on the carriage.

"Their magical creatures that can only be seen by those who've seen someone die," said Hermione as the carriage took off, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "How amazing to seen one! I would love-" at the looks on the three in the carriage who _could_ actually see them she cut herself and became oddly interested in her shoes.

There was a fair amount of silence before Harry turned his head back to his friend, "Is there _anything_ you don't know _everything _about?"

"Well...personally I find Quidditch to be a complete mystery...but I think I'm the only in this carriage that feels that way."

* * *

As they entered the great hall, eyes were following Harry everywhere, "Can't they just busy themselves with being concerned with Him being back and not you finding it out?" Ginny, sounding extremely aggravated and somewhat over protective.

"Just ignore 'em, Mate," said Ron as they sat at their table. Luna went off the Ravenclaw table and sat next to the boy Ginny had been talking to earlier. Hermione doubted if any of the boys noticed but it didn't escape her attention that Cho Chang sat right across from Luna, no doubt interrogating her about any mention of Harry had made of her.

Hermione couldn't quite hide the smile from her lips, but it disappeared at the sight of Ron in an in-depth conversation with Lavender Brown. She was starting to wonder if there was some sort of cruel God plotting against her.

* * *

The clear liquid swayed back and forth in the shot glass as it poured into it from the large square bottle. Rose placed the bottle back on the counter and picked up the glass, downing its contents and slamming it on the counter. "Since when do you drink?"

"If I remember correctly, I was drunk the night Hermione was conceived..." she mumbled, a slight slur in her voice making it evident the shot she'd just taken was _not_ her first.

"Yes, but you also said you'd never drink again after that," said Severus, picking up the bottle of Tequila and shot glass and placing it in one of the many cabinets in the Grimmauld place kitchen.

"Well; when I made that vow I didn't realize my daughter would _hate_ me."

"Hermione does _not hate_ you, Rose."

"She hates you..." she replied in a childish inebriated tone.

"Yes, well _that's_ true," said Severus, sounding suddenly somewhat melancholy as he sat next to the mother of his child, "But she _doesn't_ hate you; she's _just angry_."

"She's never been mad at me before, we never fight: I'm the _good _parent."

At Severus' glare Rose, still with some sense, shut her mouth and clumsily stood up, walking toward the cabinet. Severus dashed up to her, pulled her way from the liquor, and pushed her out of kitchen. "Time for bed, I think."

"I'm not _that _drunk so don't even think about it, Mister-"

"_Sleep_, Rose. _Sleep_."


	9. They Are, After All, Teenagers

Disclaimer: Jo just owns everything

The Definition of Family

Chapter Nine: They Are, After All, Teenagers

A few weeks had passed. The school had been completely restless with the current siduation and there was constant scanning of the papers for news, though there hardly ever was any. The Ministry had begrudgingly agreed Voldemort was back but preferred not to cover it. Fear tended to make people distrusting of a government that could not prevent it.

The kids liked Kingsley intensely. While the big black man was somewhat intimidating and oddly silent he had a great knowlege of Defense and obviously cared about the students alot. Professor Snape had seemed uncharechteristically quiet lately, the students were, naturally, thankful as it lead him to be less likely to hand out punishments. It was, however, becoming unsettling. If it had occured to Hermione that her father's behavior had anything to do with her refusal to talk to him unless directly asked a question in class she hadn't shown it. Hermione's usual philosophy that ignoring things didn't solve anything had gone out the window as she had taken to pretending the summer holidays and the events leading up to them hadn't taken place.

Ginny, Harry, and even Ron had tried discussing the matter with her but she had completely brushed them off. Ron had given up quickly and gone back to persuing Lavender Brown (which resulted in Hermione not speaking to either one of them). Harry had tried longer but so much of his energy was being sucked out of him by the siduation he was in and his horrific occlumency lessons with Snape (who Harry suspected had begun digging into his head for information about how Hermione was copping. Ginny was the only one remained dedicated to getting her friend to stop being so pig headed and had even convinced Luna and Neville to join in, though the two were probably hendering more than helping. Ginny restlessly debated that Hermione needed to form a relationship with the man who was, after all, only trying to protect her by staying away. The younger girl told her friend that she could atleast give him a chance. The red head had continuously persued not only the topic of Severus but also the topic of Ron; arguing that Hermione needed to move on from her brother who was apparently deaf, dumb, and blind. Hermione had, after all, explicitly instructed her over the summer to move on from Harryl; which she was currently trying to do, so it was only fair that the newly discovered half-blood take her own advice. Neither argument was bearing much fruit.

September was coming to an end and as it did the first Hogsmede visit was coming up; all the kids were excited and, as Ginny put it, it was "the perfect oppertunity for Hermione to search for a different romantic prospect."

"I'm not interested in _any_ romantic prospects right now, Ginny: not even Ron."

Ginny snorted at this, "If you want to be in the Order when you come of age you're _really_ going to have to work on your lying skills because the ones you used to get the boys out of trouble from the troll incident your first year aren't going to cut it in interrigation."

"I have pleanty good lying skills what with my telling Harry how 'over him' you are," she snapped backas they walked to the Gryffindor common room.

"Go ahead and mock me but atleast I'm trying instead of moping around about how unfair my life is," Ginny replied, obviously less than pleased at her friends comment, "For Merlin's sake Hermione; _Harry_ is dealing with things better than you and he's facing possible death! All your facing is a new dad and the prospect of not dating _Ron_."

"He's _not_ my dad and I have no interest in dating your brother. Now is it at all possible that you could let this go and leave me alone because I am really not in the mood."

The tiny red head rolled her eyes, "You never are."

* * *

"_Lavender Brown_, Ron?"

"What? She's pretty."

"She's still Lavender Brown," retorted Harry as he layed spread out on his bed. This was about the fourth time the pair had had this debate. With Lavender constantly sitting next to Ron at meals and in class, not to mention her choice of nickname for the lanky red head, Harry was begining to get a little bit agraviated with the siduation. He wanted his best friend back; both of them actually because Hermione had been avoiding Ron, and therefore anyone with Ron like he always was, like the plague.

"She's one of the most painfully annoying people in this school: she's only beaten by Malfoy, Parkinson, and Smith."

"That seems unecessesarily harsh," argued Ron, "Don't you think that's a little harsh?"

There was a sudden chorus of "not really"s and "she calls you Won Won"s from the rest of the rooms inhabitants followed by one "she turned my hair pink once" from Neville.

"It was on honest mistake!"

"It was _pink_!"

"Who else am I going to go with? In case you haven't noticed Harry, not every guy has as much constant fauning as you do."

"There is no constant fauning," Harry argued, getting up from his bed.

"There is; you just ignore it, which is bloody stupid if you ask me because if I were you I'd deffinantly snogged one of 'em by now."

"Hermione," said a voice in an irish accent from across the room.

"I _know_ Hermione's not interested in me!" exclaimed Harry hautily.

"I was talkin' about Ron," Seamus countered with a grin, "Hermione has feelings for ya."

"Right," replied Ron sarcastically, "Which is why she's so kind to me. I gave up on the prospect of Hermione a long time ago: if we ever did get together it would be excrutiatingly painfull for both of us. We'd drive eachother insane."

"...That's love, Mate," said Dean with a grin as he put a hand on his shoulder, "You could do a lot worst than Hermione: Lavender for instance."

Ron pulled out of Dean's grasp with a scowl on his face, "I'll thank you all not to get into my private affairs or critisize my girlfriend." And with that he stormed out of the room.

"Oh great," said Harry with a sigh, "Now she's his girlfriend." There was an awkward silence filling the dorm for a moment before the boys all irrupted in laughter.

Trying to catch his breath and wiping tears from his eyes, Harry turned to Seamus, "Do you think I should go after him?"

"What fer? He's probably off snoggin' Lavender anyway." Seamus sat on Harry's bed and tapped his foot anxiously on the hardwood floors, "So do ya think, what with Ron goin' off with blondie and all, that I'd have a chance with Hermione?"

The entire room whipped around to look at Seamus. Dean rolled his eyes, Neville started sputtering, and Harry looked as if he'd swallowed something sour. "...Er-_What?_" asked Harry in amazement.

"She's your best friend; I figured you would know," Seamus said, slower now, as if speaking to a small child.

"Know?"

"If I had a chance with her-"

"I-I-I-" Harry sputtered, trying to register what Seamus had just said, "It's Hermione."

"Right," said Seamus, once again in his 'talking to a small child' voice.

"I don't think of Hermione like that, at all; it sevearly disturbed me when she was seeing Krum-"

"Not to mention those articles about you two being a couple-"

"I had been trying to block that out, but thank you Neville," Harry quipped before turning to Seamus who was looking up at him expectently, "I have no idea."

Seamus let out an agsaserbated sigh and got up from the bed, walking out of the room and walking into the common room where he sat on the couch and pulled out a potions essay that all of them were putting off due to Snape's new, less frightening, nature. The other boys piered around the door and looked at the friend. Neville was the first to say anything, "Did either of you know-"

Dean and Harry answered "yes" and "no" respectively. Harry turned to Dean and raised his eyebrows quizically, "He's my best friend, I know him like the back of my hand."

They looked back out to Seamus who was now enveloped in a conversation with said girl while she peered over at Lavender and Ron on the other side of the room ever so often. Seamus, however, seemed to engrosed to notice. Harry sighed, "Well this is a happy developement."

* * *

Draco sat akwardly alone in his dorm room. It was Sunday and his roomates were either downstairs in the somewhat morbid common room or out and about. Things had been slowly going from bad to worse lately. For one thing; his family was now apparently fixated on getting themselves killed or arrested, not to mention getting _him_ killed or arrested. The only people who seemed concerned about this were him and his mother. And Severus, who had always been somewhat his father where his own had been lacking, had been completely distant lately; Draco suspected the older man was havin the same concerns and doubts about the impending war. He often wondered which side his mentor was _actually_ spying for, but asking would be dangerous which ever way was true.

To add insult to injury, Pansy seemed to be absolutely thrilled about the prospect of him becoming a Death Eater. She thought it was sexy or some similar rubbish. Meanwhile, Draco was scared senseless and honestly had no desire to kill anyone. Beat them up? Sure. Jinx them? Sure. Kill? That was a slightly different story.

So he sat, very much alone, in his dorm room. Sighing, he decided sitting and sulking would solve nothing and decided to go out and do something. Languidly, he got up and walked out of the dormroom and then headed out of the doorm all together, ignoring the calls from Crabbe and Goyle to come and sit with them. Walking alone he spoted the Weasley girl flirting shamelessly with some Ravenclaw in her year. His lips curled a little bit. It was obvious to anyone but Potter she only acted this way to incite his attention. Noticing him grinning Ginny flippently glared at him, but he saw no real malice there. This disturbed him more than the meanest look would have. The girl and Granger always seemed to see things that others didn't: if anyone, even someone on the opposite side, suspected he wasn't loyal to the Dark Lord there could be trouble. He turned away from her almost immediantly only to run into the other overly perceptive Gryffindor.

"Watch where your going, Mudblood," he growled as he got up to dust himself off. Hermione however, barely heared him, she honestly looked worse than he did. Her hair, if possible, seemed frizzier and she had a dazed look on her face. She looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Not being able to help himself, Draco bit, "Are you alright?"

She looked up at him as if just now realizing he was standing there. She stared at him for a long while, probably noticing he was paler than normal and slightly hunched over. The same look that had been in Ginny's eyes were now in hers, "...I'm fine-it's been a long couple of weeks," she said with a weak smile. The stood there for a moment before they realized they were having what could pass for a decent conversation in public.

"I didn't ask for your bloody life story," Draco sneered.

"Sorry for answering your question then," she responed in the same half-hearted hostility. The both stalked off in opposite directions and it was Ginny's turn to roll her eyes and grin.

The next day the Gryffindors had dubble potions with Slytherin and, naturally, everyone in the classroom looked about a hairs breadth from making poison on purpose and drinking it the second they walked into the Dungeon classroom. Ron had, of course because things could never be easy, decided to pair up with Lavender. Hermione and Harry ended up with eachother and Neville by process of elimination and Draco somehow ended up in a trio with Thomas and Finnigan which still baffled him. Pansy ended up with Crabbe and Goyle and she looked none to happy with her boyfriend at the moment.

"Is she looking at me?" asked a Irish voice in a hushed tone. Malfoy, who was sudenly being pulled back to reality from unpleasant thoughts about death and jail, looked up and began to pay attention to the conversation between his two partners.

"She's kind of busy staring at Ron and Lavender, Mate," responded Dean who was smiling indulgently at his friend.

"Right," said Seamus with a scowl, "Of course she is." Draco looked over at where they were looking and saw Hermione looking somewhat disraught and then he looked over to where Weasley and Lavender Brown were acting particularly lovey-dovey as they made their potion. Brown and the Weasle had gotten together? Could that be what all of Granger's queerness had been about? There was no way she was that insecure or boy obsessed. If it were Potter who'd gotten a girlfriend and Ginny Weasley who was acting strange he might believe it but something else was going on.

It was only after coming to this realization that Draco backtracked and realized what he'd actually heared. Looking up again he saw Finnigan staring intently at Granger. He was honestly in awe because he'd always thought he and Thomas were both complete poofs and a couple. He saw now he might have to rethink a few of his theories about people he didn't know that well.

"Is there anyway we can concentrate on the potion rather than the melodrama that is your house?" he asked in his usual tone of sarcasm. Both boys glared daggers at him but they did get to work.

Severus, who had also been observing what was going on, glared at the over exuberance of the couple, "Mr. Weasley, Miss Brown? I have absolutely no problem failing you for simply being annoying to everyone else in the room. Public displays of affection aren't aloud in class: 10 points from Gryffindor each and I suggest you tone it down before I make good on my threats to your grades _and_ give you detention."

The surprising result of this was that, despite the loss of points for the Gryffindors, everyone in the room seemed gratefull to the teacher. He could have sworn he even saw Potter, who'd probably guessed what the underlying reason for his outburst was, smile. As he passed by his and Hermione's table, the two also could have sworn they saw him wink.

Draco also could have sworn he had seen this and was now even more confussed than before. Could his suspiscion that Severus was really on the other side be correct? He looked back at the pair: Potter was smiling slightly wherea Granger looked slightly sick. Her hand shot up.

"Yes?"

"May I use the lavatory?" she asked coldly without looking Severus in the eye. Looking slightly hurt but concealing it almost completely a second later, he conceded. Grabbing the pass the girl flounced out into the hallway and slammed the door behind her.

"Merlin," exclaimed Lavender in her usual annoyingly shrill voice, "Is she having the painters in?"

The entire classroom stared at Lavender at disbelief that she actually didn't know atleast the part of what was going on everyone else seemed aware of. "Well is she?"

"Miss Brown, if you disrupt my class again it will be dentention, I swear it." This quickly got Lavender to be quiet and caused snickers in Harry, Draco, Seamus, Dean, Neville, and even Ron.

Hermione sat in the hallway, staring at absolutly nothing. This was ridiculous; she had forever been the voice of reason: the girl who never got silly or emotional and always had the answers. Then in one fell swoop it seemed she had lost a possible boyfriend and gained a father and she felt very much like things were spinning out of control. And she liked control...alot. Ron was acting like a complete idiot but really she was no better. She perfectly realized he was acting like she did last year with Victor but acknowledging that would be an increadible blow to her pride and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that. Of course she felt that she might have to be as the boy in question was fast approaching.

"Your dad sent me out here to come look for you-"

"He's not my-! Oh never mind," Hermione grumbled, pushing herself off the floor, "Okay, you've gotten me. Let's get back to class now."

The two stood there staring at eachother for a moment of dead silence, both waiting to see who would speak first. Finally Ron broke.

"Hermione-" started in Ron.

"We aren't talking about this."

"Yes we are," he argued, glaring at her for a moment before his eyes softened, "I know you don't like Lavender. I'll be the first to admit it: she's annoying as hell; but what's going on...it has nothing to do with you."

"No...It just means you'd rather be with someone you don't even like than be with me," she said in little more than a whisper, looking straight into his eyes.

"...I got tired of waiting."

She sighed, "So did I." She walked past him back to the classroom as if nothing happened, leaving Ron dumbfounded alone in the hallway.


	10. Hogsmeade Weekend

Disclaimer: Oh honestly, if I owned Harry Potter than the epilogue would have been longer and said more about Draco. Also, Luna would've been there.

The Definition of Family

Chapter Ten: Hogsmede Weekend

A/N: Just to clarify. This story does not have a Romione endgame, but there are Romione elements in the plot as they move away from each other as romantic prospects and towards other people

Tonks roamed threw Grimmauld Place with a boredly; it was evident to everyone at headquaters that she was going stir crazy as she really hadn't been out of the manner with the exception of work and the brief missions she'd been on with Moody. Sirius had, of course, explained why it was necessary that she stay under a watchful eye other than that. She was part of Harry Potter's new family, not to mention she was already a target for assasination due to her lineage. It didn't stop her from being painfully bored though. She had applied to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher but was deemed too young and they gave the position to Kingsley, much to her distaste. She had thrown a fit when she found out which, according to Severus, proved that she was, indeed, too young.

"Are you okay?" asked a voice which completely startled her out of her self-pitying trance.

"Huh?"

"You had this look on your face," Bill continued, "Like you were about to either cry or throw something; it was unclear."

"Oh..." she said slowly as she realized what was going on, snapping to attention she spoke more coherantly, "I was just thinking."

"Right, well...thinking's good," he said before inwardly chastizing himself for how ridiculous he sounded: 'thinking's good'?

"Yeah...you know what else is great?" she asked with a grin, "Talking."

"Yeah," Bill readily agreed, only afterwards realizing he was being mocked. Not knowing what else to say, he just dove right in, "Would you like to go Hogsmead with me on Saturday? I mean; the kids have a day there and someone's supposed to keep an eye on them and I thought maybe we could-"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, honestly not sure weather her enthusiasm was for getting out or for the man in question.

"Oh," he said, surprised, "Well, good!"

* * *

It was raining; the streets of Hogsmeade were glowing a murky silver and the kids waffled between jumping into the puddles and relishing in the splash and running inside to escape the overflow. Harry had run into _Three Broomsticks_ with Cho, who seemed to be smiling for what seemed like weeks. The had found a quiet booth in the back so Cho didn't even notice Tonks and Bill five feet away from them watching their every move.

"So are things going good with the Gryffindor Quiditch team?" asked Cho rather awkwardly as they had been sitting in silence for a while.

Harry smile brightened at the idea of the two of them having something in common, "Yeah, they really are. My friend Ron's our new Keeper he manages to do really well most of the time: but he gets so nervous and I'm a little worried about our first game."

"Well since against Slytherin and not Ravenclaw I'll go ahead hope for his nerves to calm," she giggled.

"What about Ravenclaw?"

"Oh things are going really well actually; Micheal's doing great as our new Chaser."

"Micheal?" asked Harry, confused.

"Micheal Corner: he's a fourth year. I'm sorry, I just assumed you'd know him with all the time he's been spending with Ron's sister. It's Jenny, right?"

"Ginny, actually." he corrected her.

Harry delved into the back of his mind and realized he had been seeing Ginny talk to the same Ravenclaw boy for a couple of weeks now, but he hadn't thought anything of it. The tone Cho had used had made it sound like the two were dating. This baffled Harry, even though he'd become friends with Ginny and had even admitted to himself that she was an attractive, smart, funny girl, the idea of Ron's little sister dating threw him. Though Ginny had been making alot of changes lately; the week before she had chopped off all her hair and streaked the front of it purple out of boredome. Harry suspected she had been planing to change it back, but then Ron had said it made her look like a "scarlett woman" and she had kept it that way out of spite.

"Harry?" called a voice with a scottish tinge to it, pulling him out of his stupor.

"Sorry?"

"You dazed off their for a minute," said Cho with a small smile.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I just...didn't know Ginny had a boyfriend."

"I'm sorry; I just sort of assumed you knew," Cho said, obviously trying to close off the subject about another girl, "So...what did you think of the world cup last summer?"

From the corner of the room, drinks in hand, Tonks and Bill watched in fascination. "No offense," said Bill, "but your godbrother is clueless."

On the other side of Hogsmede Hermione Granger was acting completely normal, and was absolutely not following Ron and Lavender into _Madame Puddifoots_. Or atleast that's what she was telling herself. As the door closed behind the couple Hermione managed to very gracefully fall flat into a giant puddle outside the shop. Miserable and wet she began to pick herself up. "Need a hand?" asked Irish voice from behind her.

"It would be preferable," she replied, taking Seamus' hand and pulling herself up. Seamus looked Hermione over for a minute: she was so wet and cold she looked a little like a drowned rat with a very red nose but he still found her extremely pretty.

"If it helps we all think he's a idiot," he said with a smile.

Hermione, who despite who'd she'd been following had bigger things on her mind, smiled wateryly and said, "It doesn't...but thanks."

"Let me take you to _Three Broomsticks_, we can go break up Harry and Cho's snogfest and order a round of Butterbeers."

Agreeing Hermione walked with Seamus down towards the pub only to hear a huge implosion of noise coming from it.

Harry hadn't even known that magical boms existed. Looking back he supposed that was stupid seeing how there were magical fireworks. It really was a good thing Tonks had been their, she had smelled it minutes before the explosion and managed to get most everyone to the door. There were, of course, still injuries. Madame Rosmertta had gotten pretty badly burned and was now at St Mungo's. Cho had broken her leg from being thrown back. Ginny had a long vertical burn on her arm from where a peice of hot metal had hit her (she insisted to Madame Pomfrey she keep the scar). And Tonks had suffered a concussion and was uncounscious in the hospital wing.

Sirius had flooed their immediantly and he and Harry were currently sitting by Nymphadora's bedside while Harry half heartedly talked to Cho, who was one bed over. Hermione and Ron sat near the window next to eachother, but they weren't exchanging words.

"Hermione-" Ron adressed her quietly.

"Please don't try to explain again," she replied in an exhausted voice, "I don't understand it and I don't want to. We are not okay. But everything else that's happening right now is more important than that. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good, now let's see if we can convince Ginny not to keep the scar."


	11. 6 AM

Disclaimer: We all know Jo owns Harry Potter, pretty much everyone in the world knows Jo owns Harry Potter. I claim no ownership. Blah blah blah.

The Definition of Family

Chapter Eleven: 6 AM

Ginny kept the scar.

After three days of being unresponsive Tonks was sent to St. Mungo's. Everyone was damn near having a heart attack; Sirius, Harry, and Remus in particular. Cho found Harry being disraught over his godsister increadibly charming, however, and had barely left his side when they weren't in class. Over the next week they could constantly be found going down the halls with Harry carrying her books, she was still on cruches, and it was obvious to everyone they'd soon be couple; much to Ginny's distaste.

Hermione had been spending what was, according to Ron at least, an oddly large amount of time with Seamus. The two seemed to be pairing up in class more and more often and had even begun sitting next to eachother at lunch. Ron wasn't much better at hiding his jealously than Hermione had been at hiding hers but Lavender was, for the moment, blissfully unaware of her boyfriend's obvious desplay of romantic feelings for another girl. Ginny, who was furious with Ron for dating Lavender to begin with, found the whole thing hilarious. This had lead to many arguments between the brother and sister whenever those involved weren't in the room.

"You're being a big baby. You started dating someone else. Did you honestly expect her to just mourn the loss of you for all time?" inquired Ginny as she read the _Daily Prophet_ from the couch in the Common Room.

"It would have been nice if she had atleast chosen someone I wasn't friends with!" exclaimed Ron as he continuously paced back and forth in front of his sister.

Ginny rolled her eyes as she flipped the page, "You're best friends, you spend time with all the same people. Even Lavender was a friendly aquaintence of Hermione's before this whole mess. And for the record: you wouldn't have liked it any better if she started dating someone you hated."

"Of course not, she was supposed to pick someone I didn't know!"

"Once again; you know all the same people," she replied, completely agravated at this point.

Just as Ron was about to respond, Harry came down the stairs and stared pointedly at both of them, "Who gets up at six in the morning on a Saturday?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes under his glasses.

"Ron got up to get a glass of water and ended up ranting to me for an hour and a half about Hermione and Seamus," answered Ginny, "As for me, I haven't actually gone to bed yet."

"Healthy sleeping habbits," commented Harry sarcastically.

"Thanks, I try."

"Anyone we know get mamed or killed?" he asked, gesturing to the paper in her hands.

"Not as of yet, but the day's still young," she replied, getting off the couch and setting the paper on the end table. As she stood up Harry realized that she was still in her uniformal blouse and skirt, although the blouse was unbottoned dangerously low. She was also wearing eye makeup that made her closely resemble a raccoon, when Harry said as much she scoffed and countered, "Get a haircut and then talk to me about appearences," as she ruffled his already dishevled mane.

"Could we please get back to my problem!" said Ron indignintly, throwing his hands up in the air like a five year old mid-tantrum.

"What problem?" asked Harry, rolling his eyes, "You have a girlfriend, the girl who _was_ annoyed with you becase of this now has her own love interest. There is no problem. You're being rediculous."

"Agreed," said Ginny.

Ron's face was about the shade of a tomato as stormed up the stairs, "I am going back to bed."

"Good, try not wake Seamus from his dreams of Hermione!" shouted Ginny as he went up the stairs, causing Ron to scowl and Harry to stiffle his laughter.

"You really are a horrible sister," commented Harry.

"Yes well, being the youngest comes with a territory of being annoying, but able to get away with it," she replied with a grin as she returned to the couch, lying down with her feet propped on the arm rest opposite her head. After a few minutes her grin slowly faded away, "How's she doing?"

"No change. She's perfectly healthy, her wounds are healing, but she's still comatose."

They sat for a minute in silence, "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm really not very good at being comforting. Growing up with six brothers your womanly emotional instints kind of go out the window."

"Actually," said Harry as he laughed, "that worked pretty well."

"Well, I do what I can."

"You should go to sleep."

"I don't really sleep actually," she said, fiddeling with the purple-streaked piece of her hair.

"So what do you do while your in bed?" he asked incredulously.

"Mostly? Watch the scary movies play on the inside of my eye-lids."

There was a moment of still quiet before Harry sighed, "Yeah," he said, sitting in the chair next to her, "Me too."


	12. Waking Up

Disclaimer: Jo's sandbox, I'm just playing

The Definition of Family

Chapter Twelve: Waking Up

It was Saturday. Harry was out of classes so Sirius and Remus had specifically asked Proffessor Dumbledore if they could take him to St Mungo's to visit Tonks. She was still comatose so naturally she wouldn't actually know they were there, but Sirius had decided it was very important to continue to visit her untill she woke up. By the time they got to her room Harry and Sirius were both already in a foul mood: everyone in the whole damn hospital seemed to be staring at them. Harry for the obvious reasons, Sirius because he was an ex-convict and there was still some speculation as to whether he was actually innocent. As the two sat fuming at Nymphodora's bedside, Remus seemed completely wrapped up in the _Daily Prophet_.

"Oh dear."

"What is it Moony?" asked Sirius, sounding anything but interested but realizing he'd better ask in case someone they knew had managed to get killed, mamed, or tortured.

"Someone attacked Gwenog Jones' house yesterday afternoon."

"The Quidditch player?" asked Harry.

"Yes. She's fine, she had been picking up her four year old daughter from a playdate. Her husband's dead though."

"And we needed to know that why?" asked Sirius, his already bad mood exasperated by news of yet more killing.

"I was just relaying information, Padfoot, don't over-react."

"Quite frankly Remus, unless it directly effects us, I don't want to know about any more Death Eater attacks. It's waying on my soul."

"Well of course it's waying on your soul, Sirius, it's waying on everyone's soul," replied Remus, obviously growing more and more aggravated with his partner, "Now would you stop being overdramatic, it's not exactly pleasant news, but it's best that we stay informed."

"Informed yes, but I don't feel the need to know about everything in all of Britain, nor do I feel it's healthy for Harry to."

"As if Harry would've spent five seconds at Hogwarts and not heard about this," argued Remus, getting out of his chair to express his annoyance, "And besides, I'm not just telling out about every random Death Eater attack, Jones lives no more than a kilometer from where we live, you Twit."

"Honestly you two argue like an old married couple," rang out a raspy voice. The arguing, much to Harry's pleasure, suddenly stopped as everyone realized the comment came from the hospital bed. Pale as death and obviously weak, but with the pink slowly but surely returning to her hair, Nymphadora Tonks pushed herself upright in the bed and grinned lopsidedly.

"Dora!" exclaimed Harry excitedly as he gave his godsister a gentle hug, the older two soon followed suit, apparently forgetting the quirel of five seconds before.

"Where the bloody hell am I?" she asked quitely as the began to rub the sleep out of her eyes, looking around the room.

"St. Mungo's," answered Remus, "There was a bombing at Three Broomsticks, you've been unconcious for a week and a half."

"Huh," replied Tonks as her eyes screwed up in concentration, "No, no, I don't remember that at all."

"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Sirius.

"Harry completely blowing it with that pretty asian girl."

Remus and Sirius began to laugh, as did Dora. Harry, on the other hand, didn't seem to find it quite as funny.

"I'll have you know I've walked that pretty asian girl to class everyday this week and I already have plans with her for the next Hogsmede trip."

"Well it's nice to know your worry about me didn't interfere with you quest to score," she replied in her characteristic sarcasim, her hair becoming short and spikey and fully returning to its old color. It was clear she was starting to feel like her old self again.

"Actually it probably helped, she seemed to find my concern particularly indearing."

"Well then, you'll just have to buy me a drink when this is all over, won't you Potter."

* * *

"It's great that Tonks is awake again Harry, but it doesn't exactly change the fact of the bombing. Madam Rosmerta isn't sure if she can raise the money to rebuild," said Hermione in her usual way of bringing everyone out of euphoria and back to reality as they walked down the hall.

"Well can't anyone help her out?" asked Ginny, "I mean, Three Broomsticks is an institution, can't she get donors or something?"

"With things the way they are I suppose everyone figures it'll just get blown up again, don't they?" replied Ron.

Despite the somewhat depressing topic Harry felt like he was on cloud 9, Dora was awake and the joy of that seemed to have caused Hermione and Ron to make up. Ron was, unfortunantly, still dating an increasingly annoying Lavender Brown, and Hermione and Seamus still seemed enamoured with each other. But things were, for the most part, returning back to normal, or as normal as they could be with everything that was happening around them.

The reaction to the attack on Gwenog Jones had been as gossip worthy as Remus expected. The idea that the Death Eaters could actually get to a celebrity was shocking the majority of the school, who seemed to forget they had managed to transport Harry from Hogwarts to a graveyard at the end of last term. Yes fear seemed to fill the air everywhere they went nowadays. Harry was hardly suprised no one had the heart to rebuild Three Broomsticks and actually believe Hogsmede wouldn't see another attack.

"'Mione!" called out a voice in an irish accent from across the hall. Harry wanted to be annoyed, Ron and Hermione's relationship was still on thin ice. It wouldn't kill Seamus to calm things down for a few days. But he couldn't be very angry when he saw the look on Hermione's face. She looked so happy. Ron must have noticed to, because he held his tongue. Though that could have been because Lavender was walking towards them and appearing jealous would land him in some increadible hot water. As Hermione and Ron walked to the lunch table with their respective infatuations Ginny turned to Harry.

"Guess it's just you and me, Green Eyes," said Ginny with her usual little smirk. Harry was about to respond when Cho limped past them, "Go," said Ginny in an annoyed voice, "I should go talk to Micheal anyway."


	13. The Tower

Disclaimer: JkR owns everything. Creative disclaimers are difficult

The Definition of Family

Chapter Thirteen: The Tower

It was cold. The fact had just occured to him, but he guessed it should have been obvious, what with it being three o'clock in the morning on a particularly windy night and him being on top of the astronomy tower. He'd been avoiding the dorm lately, ever since the fight. Everyone was wondering where all the agression had come from, and she, to her credit, had not said a word to any of the twits she was friends with. It had started so innocent, just a gage of her reaction, really. How could he have possibly known what would happen? How could he have known how loyal she would turn out to be? How could he have known the loyalty wouldn't be towards him?

They'd been at Hogsmede, _Madame_ _Puddifoot's_, actually. He loathed the place, but _Three Broomsticks_ was yet to be re-opened, and Pansy continually argued she would not go on a date to somewhere as grimy as The Hog's Head. It was a table in the back, Pansy wanted one by a window, but he'd wanted somewhere a little more out of the way to have this conversation. She'd been going on about...something. A pair of robes she wanted? Her dislike of Shacklebolt as a teacher? That's when he blurted it out. He didn't mean to, he'd hoped to have more tact, but it was eating him up.

"I don't think I want to do it." Simple enough, really. It wasn't that he was absolutely set on refusing. He was just...undecided.

She giggled in that way she always did, they way so many people considered annoying, but that he had always found endearing, "Do _what,_ Love?"

"...Join." Her expression changed immediately. She was looking at him with an almost disgusted look, the way he'd so often seen her look at the, many, people she disliked at school.

"_Draco_, you _can't_ serious."

"Pansy-"

"You have a _responsibility_! Duty, honor, family. Does none of that mean _anything_ to you?" She was progressively getting louder, and people in the cafe were beginning to stare. He'd never much cared for other peoples' opinions, but he would be lying if he said Potter and Chang watching them from across the room didn't get under his skin.

"Pans, you're making a scene."

"How can you do this to me?" She demanded, loudly, and to his shock, in tears, "How can you put me in this position?"

"What position?"

"Being in a relationship with a..."

"With a-?"

Pansy suddenly got very quiet, having the sense, at least, not to shout out the source of their argument to the top of the rafters, as she spat out her response with venom, "_Blood traitor._"

"That is _not_ what I am talking about at all, here. I haven't done anything. I'm just-"

"A coward," she completed for him, at this point just looking disapointed as she grabbed her cloak and stormed off.

"Yeah? Well someone who's as much as a vindictive _bitch_ as you, shouldn't talk," he called after her as she slammed the door of the shop. The loud clang and the ring of the bell was they only thing to be heard inside _Puddifoot's._ Everything else was deathly silent as Draco threw some coins down on the table and ran out as well.

And now he was here, siting on the tower ledge, his legs dangling precariously over the edge, wondering what the hell he was thinking. Pansy was always so impassioned about everything. So devout in her convictions. That was largely what had attracted him to her in the first place. He should have guessed that when it came to the principles that had been instilled in so many of them since birth, she would choose her beliefs over him every time. They hadn't spoken since that day, but if he had to guess, he'd say they were probably over. He wished he could feel more grief over it, but right now he was busy worrying about what would happen when Pansy did what he couldn't and took the Dark Mark. Would she reveal that he had doubts? And what would that result in?

Maybe he _should_ just take the plunge. He'd please his parents, get Pansy back, fulfill the destiny everyone had already decided for him anyway. But then, of course, he have to kill, to torture, to act like a mildly psychotic cult member, not to mention he'd probably get offed by an Auror within his first week. Then there was the other option. He loose all of his friends, all of his family, and either be executed on the spot or have to run away.

"What the hell am I going to do?"

"If I were you I would probably start by getting off of the ledge, what with it being extremely dangerous and all."

"What are you doing here?" he asked, genuinely annoyed to be disturbed, even though he was being jarred out of a train of thought that was going nowhere.

"I'd been up talking in my common room, when I went to go to bed, I realized I'd left my chart up here. I almost didn't come, didn't feel like breaking curfew."

"No, wouldn't want to break any rules, no would we?"

"Malfoy, I spend the majority of my time with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. I'm pretty sure I broke more rules my first year than you have in the past four," replied Hermione with a bit of sneer. It seemed like her heart wasn't really in it though. He looked awfully lost, and Harry, though he might have been the only one, had been able to deduce from Pansy's raving the general idea of what was going on.

"Yes, you're a real rebel, Mudblood," he scoffed, "You've got your chart. You can go now."

"I meant what I said before, you should get down from there."

"I'm comfortable where I am."

"Malfoy, I mean it. You're going to get yourself hurt."

"I wasn't aware you cared."

"Just because I find you infuriating doesn't mean I want to wake up tomorrow morning to find you a bloody heap on the ground," she said in a huff.

"Would you just go?"

"Oh..._bloody hell_." Gingerly, Hermione began to climb onto the ledge. She was breathing very hard and, though Draco couldn't be sure in the darkness, seemed to be very pale. "I'm _terrified_ of hights, by the way. So the fact that I'm doing this, _especially for you_, should mean a lot."

"Yeah I'll keep that in mind, Mudblood," he shot back in cruel sarcasm, hoping she would leave him alone.

"I'm not going anywhere until you get down, you little ferret, so don't even bother with that." She swung her legs over, sitting right next to him and met his eyes. "It really wouldn't be the end of the world, you know."

"Leave it to Potter to blather on to everyone, eh?"

"If you define myself and Ron as 'everyone'."

"...I don't know what I'm going to do." It had just occured to him that he was crying. He should have been humiliated, but he was too busy being upset. If he knew Granger at all however, she'd pretend it hadn't happened tomorrow.

"Well...I think you should see Dumbledore."

"You would say that."

It was at that point that Hermione climbed back down, with some difficulty, and held out her hand for him. When he didn't take it she smacked him.

"_Ow_!"

"Would you just come down?"

"_Fine._"

He took her hand and jumped down with ease, "I'm still going to hate you in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah, me too...you twitchy little ferret."


	14. Early Morning Whisperings

The Definition of Family  
Chapter 14: Early Morning Whisperings

Disclaimer: Oh my darling Jo, certainly you know from your massive amounts of money that you own these characters and have no reason to take my meager posessions.

"So what do we do now?" inquired Severus as he mindlessly paced back and forth in the Headmaster's office. It had taken no more than five minutes after the conversation with Hermione and Draco for Dumbledore to send for the potions master. After all, if anyone knew about the dangers of switching sides, it was him. Hermione, meanwhile, had been sent back to her dorm with the promise that things would work out and permission to recount the night's events to her friends, but only those within the confines of the Order. Draco had been placed in the smaller room in the back of the office where, almost three months ago, Snape had revealed his paternity to Hermione. He'd been there a grand total of three minutes before falling asleep on the old sofa.

"Well," replied Dumbledore, "The only thing we really can do is move Draco into Grimmauld Place. He's far too young to act as a spy, and even if he weren't, his reveal to Miss Parkinson made him far too suspicious."

Snape nodded his head in agreement for a few moments before realization came over him and his head began to shake in an imphatic 'no' instead, "Albus, Draco's in Slytherin, and all of his friends are either a hair's breadth away from being inducted or they already are. We move him out of Malfoy Manor we unofficially announce to everyone he's a blood traitor. He'll be a sitting sitting selkie in that dorm."

"The thought had occured to me as well," said Dumbledore, doing his best to be serious, but unable to completely hide his amusement at Snape's sudden use of colloquial language.

"So?"

"So we may have to find somewhere else to room him." At this, Severus gave an extreme look of aprehension. "I know it's not exactly ideal, but I'd prefer Mr. Malfoy to be safe rather than to have exactly what he'd like."

"But where are we supposed to put him?"

"For now, I think, that back room is best," he said simply, gesturing to wear Draco was currently sleeping, "And perhaps eventually we'll be able to move him into another house's dorm if he manages to get along with-"

"The other students who're staying at Grimmauld? Albus, you know just as well as I do how unlikely that is. It's not just Potter that he's made enemies with."

"And, while he may be fairly popular within his own house, Mr. Malfoy's never been good at making friends with those outside of Slytherin. Yes, I'm aware."

"So, how-"

The twinkle shone especially bright in Dumbledore's eyes at that moment as he supressed a chuckle, "Once again, Severus, you underestimate the children, specifically those associated with the Order."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, you're daughter showed an extraordinary amount of compassion tonight. She had the option to leave Draco forlorn and indecisive on the tower. No one would have blamed her: we're talking about a boy whose spent the past four years taunting her and her friends, calling her horribly inapropriate things, even going so far as to wish her harm during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. And yet...she brings him to me. Now why do you think that is?"

"I...I don't know," Severus answered truthfully.

"Because these kids, Severus, they're smart, and they care, and they know if we have any chance of living through this battle that they cannot hold silly grudges. You and Sirius might actually want to take a page out of their book, as a matter of fact."

Severus couldn't help but flinch at the comment.

"Now's the time for second chances, Severus. And that's why I believe Mr. Malfoy will find his niche eventually. It's the same reason I believe that one day you'll wake up and realize that you and Hermione have managed to develop an actual relationship."

"You do?"

He smiled again, his eyes still twinkling, "It's like I said, the girl, like many of her friends, is really quite extraordinary."

* * *

And this was quote was exactly how Severus ended this story as he recounted it at six o'clock that morning, his body hanging out of the dungeon fireplace and his head pertruding out of the one at Grimmauld place.

"I think you would have been proud of her, Rose," he said quietly, wary of all others living in and working out of the house: half of which were still asleep, and half of which we're out doing things related to either work or the Order and could return at any moment.

"I'm proud of her now," Rose replied, clearly touched by Hermione's willingness to come to the boy's aid, but at the same time still upset by her's and her daughter's sudden estrangement, "Do you think he's right? Albus, I mean."

"I don't-I hope so."

"You're lucky, you at least have your idiotic need to protect her to excuse you." There was a sarcastic apology mumbled from the fireplace as she paused, "I don't really have a good excuse for listening to you though. I think that's really why she's so mad at me."

"If I'm already excused than why is she still angry with me then?"

Rose ammitted a slight giggle and condescendingly whispered something that sounded suspciously like '_men_'. "Severus, she's not _mad_ at you. She just...needs time before she's actually ready to transition you from that, no ofense, weird Professor to...well, you know: _Daddy_."

"_Weird_?"

"All I meant was that from what I've gathered from the kids you have a reputation for being 'that creepy potions master that may or may not be a Death Eater'."

"What?"

"I'm just relaying information here. Literally, actually, that's a direct quote Ginny..."

"Well if I'm so bloody creepy then why did you sleep with me in the first place?" he demanded in quiet fury.

"A: I was smashed. B: That was almost sixteen years ago!"

"I think I should go."

"Wait-no! Severus!" But he had already withdrawed from the fire. Rose sat there for a moment before exasperately exclaiming to herself, "Remus is right, sometimes that man is like a mother_fucking_ child."


	15. Talking

The Definition of Family

Chapter Fifteen: Talking

Disclaimer: Jo's sandbox, I'm just playing.

"They're not actually going to move Malfoy into another dorm are they?" asked Ron as he, Hermione, and Harry took a butter beer break on Hadgrid's front porch. Hermione had, apparently without the others' consent, committed them all to helping Hadgrid pick pumpkins to decorate the Great Hall in anticipation of the end of the month.

"I'm just telling you what was told to me by Dumbledore yesterday, Ron," replied Harry, more than a little annoyed as this was the fifth time Ron had inquired about this specific fact since this the night before when Harry returned from his conversation with the Headmaster.

"Well," began Ron again, "Not that I ever thought I'd say this, but I think I agree with Snape. I can't really think of another dorm that'll take him."

Hermione let out an annoyed huff that made Harry cringe only because he knew it was going to lead to a confrontation between his two best friends. "Why couldn't we take him?" Ron gave her a look that could only be described as 'you've got to be fucking kidding me' before replying.

"Since when do you not hate Malfoy anyway? You didn't exactly _have_ to anything on Friday night."

"Would you prefer I let him end up a dead body at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower?"

"Well..."

"Become a Death Eater, then." Ron opened his mouth as if to respond before closing it again. His and Hermione's friendship was mending, but it was yet to be completely healed. It was due to this he'd been avoiding arguing with Hermione, unaware that this was actually driving her crazy.

"Look," interrupted Harry, "We all know Malfoy is-"

"An enormous Git whose made our lives miserable the last four years?" supplied Ron.

"Right. But Hermione's got a point: better he annoy us in our dorm than spend the next three years trying to kill us and swearing allegiance to Voldemort in his own."

Hermione gestured emphatically towards Harry as if to thank him and point out to Ron that at least someone had some common sense.

"No to mention, Ron," Harry continued, "Dumbledore gave me a huge speech last night about how proud he was of us all for being mature and giving second chances. He even said he gave the same speech to Snape." Hermione visibly flinched, "So I'd like to try to live up to that, because knowing Malfoy we're going to have to be the mature ones."

* * *

"Thanks for the assistance earlier," said Hermione as she and Harry sat in the common room later that afternoon. Neither knew where Ron was at the moment but it was safe to assume he was off somewhere with Lavender.

"No problem. To be perfectly honest, though, I was trying to keep you and Ron from ripping out each others' throats. But-"

"But Ron seemed to be doing a pretty good job a keeping things civil," she finished, "Yes, the thought occurred to me as well. It's actually a little maddening."

"Why?"

"If Ron and I are supposed to get back to normal, we have to _actually_ get back to normal. Which for Ron and I means fighting like cats and dogs."

"Yeah. I'm pretty well aware." He grinned lopsidedly, "So why don't you just tell him that?"

"Honestly? I'm afraid of confusing him anymore. I mean, one minute I'm furious with him for dating another girl, and next I'm seeing one of his better friends."

"Well I wish I could tell you how to talk to him in a way that wouldn't-y'know-confuse the hell out him. But I don't really understand the logic behind it either, so..."

"Yes yes, I know. I'm a girl and therefore terribly complicated," she replied jokingly.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"...I guess."

"If you're so willing to give Ron, even _Malfoy_ a second chance, what's keeping you from giving him one?"

Her eyes widened considerably, "What's bringing this on?"

"Dumbledore asked me what I thought was going on in your head right now. It wasn't until then I realized I didn't have a clue. I've been kind of self centered lately."

There was a moment of awkward silence as Hermione brought her knees closer to her chest.

"Yes well: Sirius being cleared, finding out about the prophecy, your uncle dropping dead, dealing with memories of abuse, Tonk's coma...no to mention Cho. That's-that's a lot of self to focus on. I don't exactly blame you."

"Thanks. But you didn't answer the question."

"You've never really been his biggest advocate," she said. Her tone wasn't exactly accusatory, but there was definitely a hint of aggravation in it.

"True...but he's not my father."

"He...He _lied to me_, Harry. They both did. Lied about something fundamental. A part of me. That trumps being stupid or cruel."

"Dumbledore lied to me too, or at least, by omission, but somehow I've managed to make peace with that because I know it was out of concern for me, for everyone."

"You think I should try to work things out with him, don't you?"

"Speaking as someone who didn't of time with his parents...if he wants a relationship: you have to try."

* * *

Hermione begrudgingly made her way down to the dungeons after her talk with Harry. After an awkward encounter with Pansy Parkinson, in which the Slytherin girl just stared at her for a moment (apparently still broken up over Draco's sudden disappearence to insult anyone) she reached Snape's office. Inside Severus was grading a pile of essays on the history of love potion that were, in his opinion, mostly sub-par. When Hermione knocked on the door he was already not in the best mood.

"I'm not taking any late essays _or_ offering tutoring. But don't worry too much, once you fail your potions OWL we'll officially be rid of each other, now go back to your dormitory," he shouted at the still closed door.

Slowly the door creaked open as a clear and, to his shock, somewhat good humored voice replied, "Don't be ridiculous. We both know I'll be making an O."

"Her-Hermione!"

"Hello," she said as she closed the door behind her, unsure of how else to greet him.

"What are you-?" he stopped midway when he realized how rude that question seemed, his normal demeanor really wouldn't do in this situation, "Have a seat."

"Thanks." They sat for a moment in silence, "I'm not going to forgive you-" he winced slightly, "You'll have to work up to that. That being said we can't go on having no interaction beyond the classroom and the Order. Eventually someone, or more than likely multiple someones, will force us into a room together so we might as well do it on our own and appear at least somewhat mature."

"So what do you suggest?" he asked, honestly just happy she was willing to speak to him at all.

"We talk. About an hour every day. Try to actually get to know each other."

"I'd like that."

"Good. But nothing we say leaves this room, okay?" So if I tell you about something Ron, Harry, and I did, no point deductions." Severus sneered at this, inciting her to continue, "Do you want to be my _teacher_or my _father_?"

"Can I ground you then?"

"I'm going to go ahead and say that power still lies with Mum."

* * *

"So how was talk time with Daddy?" asked Ginny with laughter in the back of her throat the next morning as they brushed their teeth in the Gryffindor Girls' Lavatory, blissfully alone for a few minutes as it was early, and most of the other girls hadn't woken up yet.

"Ugh. Please don't call him that."

"Well has the man at least earned a Severus?"

"...Yes. But be careful where you call him that, no one not involved in the Order."

"Well unfortunately, at the moment, that includes your boyfriend."

"Seamus is _not_ my boyfriend."

"Then what is he?" asked Ginny incredulously.

"He's just a boy I'm going out with."

"For almost a month now. That's how long Harry and..." there was a pause as a small amount of bitterness creeped into her voice, "_She_ have been dating, and he calls he his girlfriend."

"Those who, and I quote, 'changed their hair to make boys see them as older and possibly dangerous' should _not_ be giving relationship advice."

"I also did it to annoy Ron. Anyway I think I'm going to change it. I like the cut, so I'll probably keep it, but the streak turned out a little more whorey than I intended."

"_Everything_ you do turns out more whorey than you intend it." Ginny stared at Hermione for minute. As the old saying goes, 'if looks could kill.'


	16. Theories

Disclaimer: Suing is futile. I'm a college student with no reliable source of income. I don't own HP.

A/N: So who saw AVPS last night? Ah, _totally awesome!_

The Definition of a Family (previously You'll be in My Heart)

Chapter Sixteen: Theories

Draco had been missing from classes, or for that matter, the school it's self for the past three days. The kids involved with order knew, of course, that he was staying in the back room of Dumbledore's office and having his assignments sent to him, while the staff tried to figure out how to re-introduce him to the school with minimal threat of attack from his once friends in Slytherin. Pansy _had _managed to keep things a secret from the general public despite her obvious fury with her, Draco was sure at this point, _ex_-boyfriend. But she had confessed to a few of her friends in a quest for advice and the gossip had spread around the house like wild fire. Though, seeing as how Slytherins rarely associated with those outside their own house, almost none of the students in the other three houses had a clue what was going on. There were however some theories.

Seamus, for instance, was convinced Lucius Malfoy had been killed or arrested by the Ministry and Draco had been called home. Cho believed there was some sort of Death Eater master plot at work. Despite having fully recovered physically, the attack at _Three Broomsticks _combined with her pre-existing trauma related to Cedric's death to make her about ten thousand times more paranoid about such things than she ever had been before (Harry really wanted to find some way to let her into loop if only so she'd know what to be afraid of and relax about everything else). Dean thought there was some elaborate induction ceremony that they must be doing before Draco could fully become a Death Eater. And Michael Corner, a Ravenclaw boy that Harry, for reasons he couldn't quite identify, hated, and Ron hated more, but had somewhere a long the way become Ginny's boyfriend when no one was looking, thought Draco _himself_ had been killed by Aurors.

The rest of the school's theories got less accurate and even more ludicrous from there. Hermione, who had finally conceded to the fact that Seamus was, in fact, her boyfriend, would just smile and nod at his theorizing. She wished she could tell him of course, it would certainly make things easier, but she was nothing if not steadfast and loyal to whatever groups she was a part of. And, being the more logically minded one of the group involved in the Order, she was, to a certain extent, able to separate her emotions from the issue enough to convince herself of the benefits of keeping him in the dark. It was this sort of logic that had also finally caused her to forgive her fath-Severus. Though she was still not ready to welcome him into her heart with open arms. She understood _why_ he'd cut her and her mother out of his life, but it didn't remove the sting. She supposed that was the main difference between her and her father, he was able to be cold and calculating, when necessary, to be a Slytherin. Hermione, while not your typical "run into every conflict with her wand blazing" kind of Gryffindor, was still too full of the passion that defined her house to ever truly understand how someone could let go of _that_ much in the name of what had to be done.

"Well, I'm sure Mr. Finnigan will be very disappointed when he learns Lucius is alive and well and furious with with Draco to the point of malicious violence. Which really can't be a surprise for anyone," said Severus dryly with a somewhat despondent sigh as he and Hermione sat in his office, just as these thoughts were flitting through her mind, "You know, if he would focus more on his potions work and less on gossiping about other students he might actually have a chance of passing his OWL."

Hermione glared pointedly at Severus, "I mean that in an honest way. He might actually do well if he would focus. You're a bright girl, surely you could help bring him in line. It's not as if you don't already do it with Weasley and Potter as it is."

"Does this mean you approve?" she asked, a slight smirk appearing on her face the way it always did when his less surly side slipped through.

"To be honest with you, I'm just glad it's not Weasley."

She couldn't help but full on laugh at that one.

* * *

Sirius ventured into Regulus' room for maybe the first time in at least twenty-four years. All green and silver. How typical of his brother, Sirius chuckled a sad little laugh as he gently stroked the serpentine comforter. The room would probably suit Draco perfectly, from what the kids had told him. Though, on second thought, after everything that'd happened, maybe he'd prefer a room with a more neutral pallet. A sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh emitted from the door. He turned around to see, Tonks, hair slightly more pink, but still mostly it's natural brown, standing in the doorway, in her nightgown. Though she had returned home she was on ordered bed rest from the healer and sick leave from the Auror's Department.

"Go back to bed, Dora."

"In a minute, Sirius, try not to forget to breathe, you'll live longer." He simply rolled his eyes at her before letting them travel along the room.

"This where we'll put Lil' Cousin, then?"

"Well, it's a possibility."

"I'd say it was a good fit, but given recent events-"

"Exactly what I was thinking," finished Sirius.

"We could always redecorate," she suggested, giving the room a good look for herself, before receiving a glare from Sirius, "...Or not."

"Don't look at me that way," said Sirius simply before ushering her out of the room and closing the door.

"There's all kinds of death and painful memories around all of us, Sirius," she whispered as she got back into bed, "Doesn't really give you the excuse to make the room into a shrine."

"Oh, I think Kreacher's doing that pretty well on his own," he said with a forced laugh.

"I'm serious."

He sighed, staring at his baby cousin for a minute before kissing her on the head, "I know," he got up and walked to the door. "Get some sleep, Dora."

"I was unconscious for over a week, you'd think I'd gotten enough bed rest then!" She called out as he closed the door.

Shaking away thoughts of Reggie as he looked down the hallway, his mind turned to Draco. Harry had mentioned a couple of times the kid was absolutely horrid, and, given his father, he wasn't exactly surprised. Though the story Dumbledore gave him painted a boy that was more conflicted than anything else. A picture of Narcissa entered his mind before he could stop it. He could see it now, being twenty-five and going to visit her at school. She had been seventeen when she and Lucius got engaged, even though he was older than Sirius by a couple of years. But then, that wasn't so unusual in those years, particularly in pureblood matches. That didn't make Sirius any more comfortable with the whole thing, which is why he'd come in the first place really. Everyone knew Lucius was a horrible Death Eater and was probably partially responsible for the death of her sister and her husband.

"Go away Sirius," she whispered harshly in the library, walking away from her elder cousin.

"Cissa, you_ can't _marry him!"

"Well I've got to marry somebody, Sirius," she said, finally meeting his eyes, "It might as well be the father."

It took a minute for him to digest this before grabbing her gently by the shoulders, "And you think having _him_, of all people, parenting this child with you, wouldn't be worse?"

"It's not my job to know what's worse, Sirius. It's my job to know what's awful, and keep me and mine from it. And I won't end up like Meda, so help me Merlin."

"Ciss-"

"Hopefully, one day, this child will understand why I did what I did and make better choices than me. But right now, this is all I can do for it. So this is probably goodbye." She lifted on to her tip toes and gently kissed him on the cheek, "Pass that on to my niece for me, hm? Maybe one day she can understand too."


	17. The Seventh Floor Corridor

Disclaimer: Jo's Sandbox, I merely play.

A/N: Wow, uh, so literally a year since my last update. I'm really sorry guys, I fucking hate it when Authors do that to that to me. What happened was that I started college and just got extremely distracted. Anywho, I'm back, I'll try to be more frequent but I can't promise anything.

The Definition of Family

Chapter Seventeen: The Seventh Floor Corridor

It was three o'clock on Sunday morning, and, like any respectable girl her age, Ginny Weasley was snogging a boy on top of the Astronomy Tower. It could not, however, be said that she was particularly into it: there were too many other variables floating around in her mind. Malfoy, who would remain sleeping in the headmaster's office for sometime longer, would be returning to classes on Monday. And given what the Slytherins, at least, had managed to deduct, it was pretty clear that the proverbial shit would hit the fan.

She was also concerned about the fact that everyone seemed to be pairing up: Ron and Lavender, Hermione and Seamus, Harry and _her_, even Tonks and Bill, and if she wasn't particularly convinced that Neville was gay, she would say he and Luna were a breath away from hooking up as well. The whole thing was disconcerting. True, she had Michael to roll around towers late at night with, but they were hardly falling in love.

Speaking of Michael, his hand had managed to work its way up her skirt, and had broken her out of her reverie. She knew he was trying for a shag. The Tower was big on the "Places to Bang" list at Hogwarts, but she was hardly interested. She figured it was probably inappropriate for her to loose her virginity before fifth year, and if she were to shag someone it wouldn't be _Michael_, a boy who kissed her like he was trying to choke her with his tongue, and complained about his bollocks being blue like it was her personal responsibility to relieve the tension. Getting annoyed with the whole situation, not to mention the hand knickers, she pushed him off of her.

"Wank off like a normal person, I need to get some sleep," she threw back over her shoulder as she walked away, ignoring his protests. Oh yes, that relationship was going to last a good long while.

When had she turned into such a cliché? The sneaking around with some guy she barely liked, the partying. When had she become the self-destructive youngest child screw-up? No part of that sounded like her. Hadn't she always been the most down to earth of her siblings? Of course, part of the answer was that the encounter with Tom had changed her, she knew that, but that had happened over two years ago, and that was only part of it. She vaguely wondered if she was just going through a rebellious phase, but it wasn't as if she was lacking attention. No, when she got down to the truth of the matter she'd have to admit that she was scared they were all going to be dead or worse by the time this whole damn thing was over. And she didn't want to die having not done anything, didn't want the world to remember her as the good little girl who never did anything. She wanted to be seen as more. She wanted _Harry_ to see her as more.

Her musing was cut short when she spotted Snape coming down the hallway, somehow she seriously doubted his affiliation with the Order and her friendship with his daughter would be enough to get her out of detention. The man took a sick pleasure in discipline. Ginny had to wonder if he even like _any_ of his students besides Hermione and Draco, and even Draco managed to get himself on thin ice when he was being particularly unbearable. She ducked into another hallway, cursing herself for not thinking to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak while at the same time admitting that when he asked what she wanted it for they would have one of those extremely awkward encounters that she half wanted to avoid, and half enjoyed because she hoped to make him jealous.

Realizing that the entrance to Gryffindor Tower was on the other side of the seventh floor and that Snape, for some reason or another, didn't seem to be leaving her only passage that way, she started to get more than a little worried and more than a little annoyed. Then she bothered to look around her and realized that her back was pressed against the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She then remembered that about a week ago the twins said a room had appeared in front of them when they were looking for a place to practice their experiments, and it had been in the same place where a broom closet had appeared once when they were hiding from Filch. Thinking hard about needing a place to hide, she walked by the wall three times, and then a door appeared.

_Got to love Hogwarts,_ she thought as she opened the door, watching it dissolve behind her. She stepped into a tiny room with a little pile of cushions in the center, it took her a moment to realize there was someone on top of them, reading a book.

"What are _you_ doing here?" exclaimed a voice accusingly, apparently her companion had noticed her as well.

"I could ask you the same thing. Are you who Snape is looking for?"

He sighed as he put the book down and rested his head in his hands, "Probably." He rose from the pile of cushions and began to pace, "I just wanted to get out of there. Nothing against Dumbledore, he's been great, but I can't live in the back of his office forever."

She stared at Malfoy for a moment, studying him. He looked tired. She couldn't exactly blame him, lately it seemed to her like everyone was tired. She guessed sleeping wasn't really a top priority during a war, or, for that matter, in school. "Starting classes again doesn't count as getting out?"

"I meant getting out with_out_ being viciously attacked by my friends."

"Don't have a very high opinion of them, do you?"

"I just know them, that's all."

"Well, if they're that dismissive of you after all you've been through they were probably never really your friends in the first place," she offered up as she flopped herself down on the pillows stretching out her back and wondering how smeared her makeup was, and whether she looked as knackered as she felt.

"They were," he said, after a minute, a he sat down beside her, "But this isn't like other things. This isn't me dating a girl they don't like or an argument over a Quidditch team. It's war, Red, you saying you'd stay friends with one of your mates if they suddenly turned Death Eater?"

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, "…No, I guess not. But I wouldn't torture them about it either. I think I'd mostly just be sad…You called me Red."

"It seemed to fit."

"It does. I'm just surprised you didn't stick to the normal sneer-filled _Weasley_ you use with my brothers, particularly Ron."

"Well I'm supposed to get along with you lot, now, remember?" he said with a hint of a smile as he picked up his book.

"Yes, well, great way to start. If Snape had caught me coming down that corridor I would've had detention for weeks."

"Which begs the question of: what exactly _are_ you doing in this part of the castle?"

Ginny took a brief respite from her stretching to sit up and give him a condescending pat on the head, "It's so cute how you think I'm going to answer that…Look, if you want to get along with us it's really not that hard: don't call Neville stupid, don't talk about my family's financial problems, don't bring up Harry's parents, and don't call Hermione a Mudblood. Because the last one's not only rude, it's not even accurate."

She managed to actually pull a laugh out of him at that, "Yes, well, that one sort of came out of nowhere, didn't it? From what I understand not even she knew about it until recently."

"It was a bit of a shock, yes, but you spend enough time around Harry and you get a bit jaded to unexpected melodrama." They laughed again, before falling into an uncomfortable silence, she looked around the room for something to make conversation about.

"What are you reading?"

"Hogwarts: A History. I was wondering what this place was, I thought maybe I could find out about it by reading about the castle, and the book appeared. There's nothing about it in here though, I guess people only know it as whatever it was when it presented itself to them, so no one really knows what it is."

"So that's Hogwarts: A History?" She looked at the dusty old volume, it was green with large golden text on the front and a simple illustration of the castle. "I'll tell you what. You want to make friends with Hermione? Just start quoting that. She'll be so thrilled someone else has read it she'll forget everything bad you've ever done to her."

Once again, she managed to get him to laugh, even as she argued through her grin that she was completely serious. She'd make him into one of them yet. You could say many things about Ginny, but she was definitely good at making friends, even with ferrets.


End file.
